Goscheneralpsee

The Goscheneralpsee sits at about seventeen hundred and ninety metres behind a rockfill dam completed in 1960, one of the large post-war Alpine hydro schemes, and it flooded the alp pastures that gave the valley its name. Behind it the ground rises to the Dammastock and the Damma glacier, and the head of the valley is a classic glacier-forefield: bare rock, moraine and pioneer plants colonising ground the ice left within living memory. The reservoir covers about 1.3 square kilometres and holds some 76 million cubic metres. A path circles the lake in about three hours on the level, and the Chelenalphutte and Dammahutte are reached from here. The contrast with the valley below is abrupt - Goschenen sits at the mouth of the Gotthard rail tunnel with motorway traffic overhead.

The landscape

• A 1960 rockfill dam - the scheme that flooded the old alp pastures.
• A glacier forefield - moraine and bare rock the ice has recently left.
• A three-hour lake circuit - level walking with the Dammastock ahead.
• Hut approaches - Chelenalp and Damma routes starting at the water.

When to go

Late June to October. Half a day.

What to expect

The access road is narrow with passing places and closes for winter. Reservoir drawdown exposes bare banks late in the season. There is one restaurant and little else. Weather at the head of the valley turns quickly.

Nearby

Goschenen and the Schollenen gorge are below; Andermatt is up the Reuss.

Key facts