Grande Dixence Dam (Valais, Suisse)

AIRVŪZ STAFF NOTE : Check out this amazing drone video of Europe's tallest dam, compliments of contributor Kpax. It's called the Grande Dixence Dam, and it's in the Valais canton in the southwestern part of the country. Fed by Lake Dix, he concrete gravity dam stands 285 meters (just over 975 ft.) tall. Commissined in 1965 after 15 years of construction, the dam provides about 2GW of electrical power. In addition to being the tallest dam in Europe, it's the world's tallest gravity dam and the fifth tallest overall.

over 5 years ago

543 VŪZ

Report

BADGES THIS VIDEO HAS EARNED:

The Grande Dixence, the world's highest gravity dam, collects melting water from 35 Valaisian glaciers in the region surrounding Zermatt and leading up to Val d’Hérens. The dam is a visitor attraction and also the starting point for mountain hikes. The first dam was built in Val des Dix as early as 1934. Grande Dixence, built in the years from 1951 to 1965, is a construction of incredible magnitude. It is 200 meters thick at the base, 695 meters long and 285 meters high. Six million cubic meters of concrete were required for the construction of the dam. The large reservoir holds 400 million cubic meters of water, which is channeled into the lake through 100 kilometers of tunnels. Guided tours with slide shows and films take place in the interior of the dam. A cable car carries visitors up from the car park and bus terminus to the top of the Dixence dam, where they can enjoy an impressive panoramic view of the Valais mountains and over the long lake. http://www.grande-dixence.ch/en