The Ancient Spine Of Europe: The Swiss Alps | Mountains And Life | Full HD | Documentary Central

mountains rooftops of the world vast Majestic ancient home of the Gods inhospitable to the Human family had always drawing us to their grand view ice ice mountains challenge our complacent assumption that the world was made by us for us their sheer size dwarfs us up where the air grows thin it's hard enough to scramble with it go too high and they call it the death The Dead Zone and yet there's life in the mountains plants and animals and people [Music] tough and resourceful they found ways to live here forging cultures that reflect the splendors of their surroundings below the world is changing the delicate balance of life shifts resilient as they are mountain people can't stand apart from the fate of Grace from the peaks of the Korean Peninsula to the rhizori mountains of Africa from the Alps from the Rockies to the Himalayas this is the global story of humanity in high places of mountains and life [Applause] [Music] foreign the ancient spine of Europe crossed by conquering Romans and by Hannibal and his elephants in the dawn of History but always a formidable barrier dividing the continent to the south and east the warm cradle of European culture to the north and west The Cauldron that sparked the Industrial Revolution farming was the industry of the Alps it gave rise to a flourishing culture which cascaded down through the generations and centuries nurturing the ancient Peaks themselves remained unsullied [Music] the Alps since time immemorial above us Beyond us Sublime [Music] and yet there's another face to these mountains the Alps have been Mastered by modern engineering and massive human yet um penetrated by highways and time up edges have been softened into a playground for hikers and skiers for adventurers and Daredevils Seeker then and for scientists today the Alps operate like some vast high altitude laboratory focusing our understanding of the ways in which we've tamed the world he opens in the upper controls but now these mountains are revealing to us the price we'll have to pay for that taming the catastrophic damage we may have done for these pristine environment [Music] this is the story foreign [Music] to live in Switzerland is to be part of the modern world this is a high-flying economy clean and efficient home to 8 million people it's a land crisscrossed by the high-tech transport system which drives driving business life and yet if any European country can be said to be defined by its mountains it's Switzerland climb up through the terraced Vineyards and you begin to Glimpse its famous Alpine Meadows here an older Switzerland announces itself [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] India .com Gerard today is one of the highlights a little Alpine tradition oh yeah Gerard is not the only one making his way up the mountain from all over the region people are coming together for the Mendes Festival s [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] foreign attraction is a mass Orchestra of well over a hundred players the largest gathering of Outboards you're ever likely to see [Music] [Music] so many players coming together as a far cry from the days a quarter of a century ago when Gerard's own Uncle revived the album tradition in these valleys foreign [Music] Limited even as it evolves this distinctive Alpine music strengthens the historic bond between the people and their Homeland foreign foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] squeeze them [Applause] certainly the view of Karen neitherboga an accomplished yodeler she's president of the Festival this year is driving [Music] foreign [Applause] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Applause] all right foreign [Music] Bergen is respect foreign foreign the traditional way of life in the Alps is built on agriculture over the centuries farming here has adapted to meet the challenges of food production at high altitude [Music] one result is this to stick with breed the our own cattle [Music] farmer Sophie banyo got up to milk these cows with her husband John Mark at 4 15 this morning their working day won't end until they've sterilized this equipment again after the second milking well into the evening it doesn't leave time for much else is familiar foreign [Music] Every Spring when the snow melts the cows have walked up here in a ceremonial procession to enjoy the sweet Alpine pasture this practice which dates back to Neolithic times takes the pressure off The Meadows and The Valleys below it even has a special name [Music] is foreign [Music] and fighting each other to establish a hierarchy amongst the herd the Queen the toughest of the lot gets the best pasture to graze on [Music] the device [Music] organized fights between the queens and different herds draw large crowds and when the regional Champions go head to head for the honor of becoming National Queen it's broadcast live on television throughout Switzerland foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign farming continues to evolve one recent trend is to employ farmers who are immigrants especially from Eastern Europe and that brings special challenges for Sophie is expected whilst Sophie has been keeping a watchful eye on the herd her husband has had his own job to do and it's a vital one for the family finances John Mark is turning the cow's milk into a semi hard cheese known as the crack it's a laborious task that has to be done on a daily basis and the timing of each step in the process is crucial if the end result is to have just the right consistency and taste the Delights of Raclette the French term or bracha's roasted cheese in Swiss German were first written about in the Alps as long ago as the year 12 19. traditionally the cheese is fashioned into a wheel weighing about six kilos back in the day it was a handy shape and size for cowherds to take with them to the mountain pastures as their midday meal nowadays it's a favorite in fashionable delicatessens all over Switzerland traditionally made raclettes like these attract premium prices and so Sophie and John Mark's long hours will get their reward whilst the cheese has matured possibilities Momo [Laughter] foreign with it farming made human settlement possible in the Alps and it's obvious to any visitor that the traditional way of life remains important here the Alpine villages with their picture postcard chalets are themselves tokens of the rich history of a society built on high altitude agriculture it's well over a century now since the modern world arrived in the Alps by train building a railway through the mountains was a Triumph of engineering but it wasn't always possible to lay out a flat route no matter how much Rock was tunnel so the Swiss have aims for their [ __ ] Railways an innovation which allowed trains to ascend otherwise impossible inclines one of the most famous lines was begun in 1890 6 to attract visitors to the mountains it runs up to the [Music] doctor 3454 meters above sea level today there's one passenger coming up on the tourist train who's not on holiday keyline mottos is on his way to work and this is his office the Sphinx high altitude research station at The Summit this unique location guarantees pristine conditions for environmental experiments so scientists like gilang come to stay here around the clock for weeks on end we have really nice accommodation we have a kind of hotel for scientists where we have pets we have a kitchen and a dining room so everything is made really easy for science to be easy actually so we can just focus on our topics of Science and when everything else is really comfortable here geeline is researching the tiny particles of air pollution which find their way into clouds unlike the tourists who come to the summit for the world-class views of the mountains he's much happier when it's cloudy foreign weather actually because what I want to to look at is the interactions between these fine particles and the clouds and this place is around 40 percent of the time in in the clouds these high altitude conditions are ideal for investigating how the pollutants are affecting the environment for us all the particles I'm working on are We call we call it black carbon they are emitted by combustion processes so when we burn fossil fuels on when we like Residential Heating or transport emit this kind of particle and we know that when very emitted that's pure carbon the way that carbon particles behave at low altitudes is relatively well understood but gradually as they're taken up by the clouds their properties change they develop a so-called hydrophilic coating which means that they can carry and stall water these particles don't have any influence on the clouds on fog in the valley but we are not sure what's their influence here in the clouds after 10 20 hours of transport and when we have these hydrophilic coating that can update water the presence of these water-bearing carbon particles makes a vital difference to the way the clouds themselves behave we know that by emitting particles by pollution we influence the life cycle of the clouds we can make them bigger we can make them whiter we can make them live longer and this inference on the life cycle of the clouds of course influences the global climate of the Earth with this knowledge we can quantify it and we can say with such a pollution there will be such an influence on the clouds and then such an influence on the global climate of the Earth geeline's work has the potential to improve the accuracy of the models that scientists and politicians are using to forecast and plan for climate change and that real impact in the real world is the reason he's so content up here with head in the clouds every part of climate science has its own uncertainty and the uncertainty concerning the interactions between particle and clouds is one of the highest my part of the job is to help a bit to decrease this uncertainty and then with all scientists walking together all around the world to understand really what's happening inside the clouds and being able to predict really well with your climate foreign I've always enjoyed being in the mountains but something I love and I've always enjoyed science because for me the results I get are something nobody ever found before and doing this in such an environment and being in the middle of mountains I I'm just doing what I want to do what I want to do it so for me that's just that's just pleasure good foreign [Music] and you don't need sophisticated instruments or a doctorate in science to see it this is the glacier at the head of the Rome Valley the ice is melting thousands of years ago the eye stretched from here to Geneva 250 kilometers away but there's much more recent proof that the glacier is retreating today the snout of the glacier discharges its water into this glittering Alpine Lake then it Cascades down to the valley below to begin its long journey to the Sea several kilometers down the valley it's the village of glench photographs taken here in the last century show the icefall extending right to the edge of the village in the last 120 years the glacier has retreated right up to the head of the valley leaving behind a trap of naked Stone one scientist who's made a long-term study of Glacier Dynamics is Dr Andreas bowder it's a regular visitor to the Rome glacier is here is foreign Swiss glaciers every autumn they track the ice as it flows slowly down the mountain household the electric company this is pinpoint measurements over the past decade show that every single one of the glaciers is retreating is the attorney does in the team to then bringing the temperatures one feature which makes this site particularly attractive to scientists is the opportunity to get under the surface of the glacier is um careful analysis of the air trapped in the ice can give scientists a unique insight into the composition of the Earth's atmosphere hundreds and even thousands of years ago no wonder then that they're Keen to prevent this valuable data being lost as the ice melts and they've come up with a surprisingly low-tech method of protecting the cave they put some blankets over it is foreign the collapse of the ice cave would be a significant loss for scientists and it must be said for the tourists who flock here to enjoy this strange perspective on the world but the threat to the whole Glacier and hundreds of others like it is an issue for the entire continent foreign [Music] every year year on year Humanity puts more pressure on these mountains at the height of the Winter Ski season people flock here from all over Europe in summer the Alps are even more accessible but whatever the weather on mountains as high as these there are unforeseen dangers foreign these days when accidents happen we expect someone to be there on the end of the phone for us another Axiom of the modern world is that individual suffering if it's faced with fortitude can bring about a greater good for everyone that's certainly true of the history of this place foreign foreign ER founded is now part of the national emergency service the network is foreign a successful rescue involves Mountain guides medical staff and specially trained pilots combining with the perfect teamwork it's a high-tech operation in an ancient landscape is Bruno appreciates the advantages of modern day technology in an Enterprise where speed is of the essence is for everyone involved there's a way for thin line in these mountains um foreign if you don't have a helicopter traversing these mountains is a little more difficult modern Road and rail Engineers have come up with increasingly sophisticated solutions to help Travelers on their way but more than 2 000 years after Hannibal crossed the Alps the gut out massive still blocks the route South to Italy that's why one engineering achievement in these mountains now stands out from the rest at 57 kilometers it's the longest train tunnel it [Music] back in 1998 the Swiss electorate voted to fund a new railroad through the Alps it's taken two decades for the dreams [Music] The Cutting Edge of the enormous logistical Enterprise the civil engineer Christine ebenhurst s foreign one of the major challenges for Christine and her colleagues was the range of rocks they had to drill through from hard Granite to partly crushed sediment the giant tunnel boring machines 410 meters in length each cost 30 million Swiss Francs the drilling heads were nearly 10 meters in diameter these Horizon miles foreign Australian towns worked from each end producing satellite measuring systems eventually in 2010 for North and South they'd reached the moment of truth um foreign free time move to completion with the laying of the rail time interest in the tunnel became something of a national Obsession expression faced with all kinds of inquisitive questions Christine realized that she had a secret Resource One close to home remedies images [Applause] there are all kinds of problems when you drill a hole through a mountain Christine took a personal responsibility for this project cooling ponds which processed the Subterranean water which emerges from the tunnels at temperatures of up to 30 degrees Centigrade the runoff would kill the native fish and other Wildlife if it was allowed to flow directly into the river system environmental measures like this were highlighted in the final construction report Christine was one of the report authors and for her it crystallized the lessons learned throughout the long project even though many of its original Architects Uno retired if you're young foreign Services began speeding through the tunnel at 250 kilometers per hour now just 17 minutes to Traverse the house Hannibal would be amazed with 260 trains taking Freight and passengers off the road every day the positive environmental impact is a real Boom for the Alps is foreign [Music] [Music] goes the further the modern world seems to recede more sharply the focus falls on the elemental Grandeur of the ancient foreign [Music] distinctive silhouette of the matter [Applause] age old Gorno Glacier beneath it Frozen my son here too there's a sudden and thrilling reminder [Applause] this bold architectural statement is the Monte Rosa Hut a mountain refuge for hikers and skiers run by the Swiss Alpine Club its nickname is the rock crystal behind its dazzling aluminum facade there are bedrooms for 120 adventurers the building itself is a subject for scientific research in the fields of energy conservation and construction technology virtually self-sufficient in energy it recycles the country uses it although others are a figure at the Monte Rosa HUD this mountain guide Sam at the matter he um foreign the youngest of more than a hundred local mountain guides Sam himself had no need to adapt to this environment he was born here is foreign but Sam isn't just a mountain guide he's a world-class free skier far more than a stroll through the Alps this extreme sport tests to the utmost how steep a skiing Lang can get before it becomes an uncontrolled plunge house [Music] is extremists foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign sport an existential test of man against Mountain View [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] so many people here find it impossible to imagine life [Music] there are people who love and respect the traditions of the Alps and who work to build a future here they want to protect life today and to pin down what will make it livable tomorrow above all they're people who are thrilled to be here in a 21st century World which is Shifting so rapidly this is Solid Ground these Alpine Peaks enduring removable our modern lives so fleeting by comparison and yet where the two meet mountains and life ancient and modern there are moments of Enlightenment which give meaning to and abiding pleasure [Music] [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Documentary Central

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Keywords: Doco, Documentaries, Documentary, Episode, Movie, Movies, Online, Series, TV, rick steves, rick steves europe, europe travel guide, europe travel tips, europe travel advice, rick steves travel videos, europe travel, travel, travel guide, travel advice, free documentary, documentaries, full documentary, hd documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), nature documentary, swiss alps, alps, switzerland, lynx, eagle, wildlife, ibex, ibex documentary, switzerland documentary, documentary

Id: g47mTUQvVcU

Length: 52min 3sec (3123 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 21 2023