Barcelona and Lausanne castellers groups build highest altitude human towers in history

The Barcelona and Lausanne 'castellers' human towers groups built several castles and pillars on the Jungfraujoch (Switzerland), a train station located at more than 3,450 metres above sea level.

The teams have made history by building the highest altitude human castles ever built.

The performance at what is known as the ‘Top of Europe’ was done with a 3 of 7, a 4 of 7 and a 5 of 6 tower in front of the Aletsch glacier, the largest in the Alps, and which is part of the Unesco Heritage of the Swiss Alps.

The president of the group, Maria López, acclaimed the achievement of bringing more than 180 people to the Jungfrau area, and described the milestone as a “privilege” that allows them to “promote Catalan culture around the world.”

Thursday's performance beat the last record held by the Bordegassos de Vilanova, who built a castle on the summit of Aneto (3,404m above sea level) in 2020.

While the Swiss expedition benefited from railway engineering to reach the summit, the squads faced environmental factors such as cool temperatures and low oxygen pressure typical of high mountains.

López highlighted that the members of the group arrived in Switzerland in different ways; some in their own vehicle, bus, plane or even some by doing sections by bicycle from Albertville.

In total, 180 castellers from the Catalan capital have been mobilized, to which twenty from Lausanne joined.

On the mountaintop, the weather provided favourable conditions, with good sun and also a cool but mild temperature.

For more than an hour, the Castellers de Barcelona built three castles and six pillars.