Lift down from Gimmelwald

Not when the earliest is but the earliest train that leaves Lauterbrunnen is 5:53 am.

You could email your hostel and ask them. Or email Valley Hostel in Lauterbrunnen and they can tell you.

Pretty early! I was just there June 21-24. They are certainly running by 8am. By the way, we stayed at Chalet Bob (in Murren) and recommend it. What a view. I was surprised that the end of June is still "shoulder season" and the place was deserted. Still, had a great time on our "Boys getaway" weekend. The North trail is well worth the hike! Can't wait to bring my wife and kids back there. Have a good trip!

There is no train from Lauterbrunnen to the Stechelberg stop where you get the gondola up to Gimmelwald. You need to take the local bus from in front of the TI across the street from the Lauterbrunnen train station to the Stechelberg stop. The bus stops right in the gondola station. The cost for the bus ticket is about 3.75 swiss francs each way per person. The bus driver will sell you the ticket as you get on. He is equipped with a full change system. The bus runs every 30 minutes. I just don't know what time the runs begin. This is how we got there from Lauterbrunnen.

A side suggestion is to gondola up to Murren, walk around (it's beautiful) and walk down the trail to Gimmelwald (about 30-45 minutes).

You can see all of the tranportation times at www.sbb.ch/en (Swiss Transport System). The buses, gondolas, boats, trains, cogwheels are all part of an integrated transport system. You can see exactly what time the first gondola runs or exactly what time the last bus runs. The Swiss Pass covers all of these transports. Wonderful system.

Agree again the Swiss Pass is an absolute MUST if one is to visit Switzerland. We even took a boat ride In Zurich which was free because of the pass.
Don't leave home w/o it is my best advice and don't buy the first class pass, the second class is fine.
Didn't really care for the famed "high roller,"
Bahnhofstrasse, in downtown Zurich where they have grandstands set up at the outdoor cafe's so as to "people watch?" Don't any of these people work?