Little can be seen through the curtain of green created by the alpine meadows by the shores of Lake Brienz. A tumbling tongue of silver is all that hints at a majestic waterworks concealed by the forest and so you grasp the tassel of glittering white in your fists and pull yourself up the slopes, hot on the trail of the creek’s meandering path. Fallen leaves crackle underfoot while the bent boughs of the pines, evergreens and rust red oaks seal off the skies above. As you proceed, the sound of water pummeling stone to create a crescendo of noise in the otherwise silent woods is amplified, each step bringing you closer to the source. Thundering beyond a wooden bridge over moss covered rocks stands Giessbach Waterfall, 14 stages of aquatic force over 500m down Faulhorn valley. Past switchbacks and coiled footpaths, you can trace the Giessbach falls back to its rock lips but only after you’ve crossed multiple other bridges, skipping over slippery passes. You’ll even have the chance to follow a pass cut into the rock face behind the waterfall to walk through, the torrent of water cascading from above forming a glittering veil under the summer sun as you cross. Like the Bernese heroes they’re named after, each stage is a different conquest to create a different story to remember. Once you’ve scaled up 8 or more floors of the falls take the chance to look back and you will see spread before you a landscape no man could ever replicate on canvas. Beneath the listless sky stretches bands of pure white and ash gray deepening as it nears the thin green of the grassy plains below. The descent threading down the silver rope of the falls is much easier but it is with the lingering desire to stay for as long as the sun would be up and drink in the sights of the alps and the forest around.