Cracked and Replacement Spitallamm (Grimsel Pass) Dams in Switzerland

(Satellite, the image is too old to show the replacement dam)

Adriano Gabaglio, Jul 2023

While watching another video, Facebook flipped this video in front of my eyeballs. I watched it because it was interesting. And this scene caught my eye because it appears that is a woman that is holding a consolidator. (Vibrator is a common term for that equipment, but I was afraid of typing a phrase that would trip some AI big brother in Facebook.) In America, if I see a woman on a construction site, she is typically holding a traffic control sign. In fact, I heard one complaining on her cell phone about how long would she have to do the entry level job before she could do something else. (Of course, if she was doing something else, she may have to give up do personal calls while working.)

4:43 video @ 2:22

The narrator of the above video never disclosed the name of the dam nor of the location. Fortunately, the Google search of "switzerland 140 million dollar dam project" provided some useful results.

theb1m
"The Race to Replace a Cracked Dam
"Spitallamm is one of the world’s first large arch-gravity dams. It was built up in the mountains between 1925 and 1932 and is actually older than the Hoover Dam, which completed three years later. At 114 metres [374'], Spitallamm was also one of the tallest dams in the world when it finished."
[The web page has a 24:40 video, but I didn't watch it because it started with a talking headk and because the 4:43 video is very informative.]

Note that the old dam is still peaking over the top of the new dam.

theb1m

theb1m

The powerhouse is under the reservoir and a tunnel is used to access it.

[I was unable to find megawatt capacity of this powerhouse.]