The Aar Gorge, also spelled Aare Gorge, is a narrow gorge which has been cut through a section of limestone ridge, by the Aar river, close to the town of Meiringen, in Switzerland. The gorge was formed at the end of the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago, when torrential runoff water from melting glaciers eroded a deep, narrow chasm through the limestone hill. Over thousands of years, the Aare’s tumbling waters continued to erode the limestone rock away, further carving out the gorge, and getting a greenish tint in the process. The gorge is about 1,400 meters long, and only a few meters wide at its base but the cliffs climb almost vertically upwards to a height of over 50 meters.
Since 1889 the gorge has been open to the public by a steel walkway built along the bottom of the cliff wall. At times the walkway goes through tunnels cut into the cliff. Before this walkway was built the only way was to go through the dangerous river torrent and many hardy souls actually made this journey. These travellers returned with fables of large snakes and monsters. Since then, the gorge is a popular tourist attraction. Nearby is the famous Reichenbach Falls, where the legendary Sherlock Holmes is supposed to have met his end at the hands of the evil Professor Moriarty.
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