Climbing to the Eiger Glacier

Where do we begin? If we could sing you would know that’s from Love Story, we think. My apologies for yesterday’s ‘accent’ which should have been ‘ascent’. Not easy to get good help these days. Unfair comment—errors are all mine. Any of the editor’s errors are mine, too—I think that is how marriage is supposed to be.




The soul is on fire and some of the muscles, too. We enjoyed a spectacular day, perhaps the best mountain hiking we’ve done since…last week. Seriously, it could be ‘the one’. The sights, the trail itself, the sheer length and steepness of the climb, the endurance required; it was a ‘wow’. (Eight miles, 7 uphill, an elevation gain of close to 5,000 feet.) Our editor is ‘killing’ us but we love it. It was tiring and exhilarating at the same time. Leaving our hotel, we walked down into the valley at Grund, a village below Grindelwald.


From there, we gained 2300 feet and then began the mountain trail along the Eiger, up towards the Glacier, another 2500 feet elevation gain. The trail was quite rocky, crossing streams, passing waterfalls and most of the time, remaining on the precipice. This provided amazing views but unfortunately, there was much cloud cover.
Nevertheless, Schreckhorn had full exposure for most of the way, a personal favorite.

We found it interesting that all but two people took the train to the top and hiked down.
We hiked to the top and then down to the station at Kleine Scheidegg, the destination of Thursday’s hike but from a different direction. We wouldn’t change the routing—it was the ideal climb, relentless but rewarding. If it’s not the view of the giant mountains in front of one, then it is the massive valley below or the mountains across the way.
The trains and gondolas in the distance add to the picture of tranquility and order as they, especially the trains, wind and wend through the mountains. The Alpine train system is a wonder in itself. To have built a transport system up, in and across the mountains indicates a fascination with heights or maybe, a lack of space. As an aside, we even came across a natural rock pool of crystal-clear water that has been converted into a large swimming pool. It was tempting to jump in today, but as the temperature at that altitude was below 60 degrees, we resisted.


We will not carry on much more about the behavior we notice over here. Friendliness continued at the same level as before, very low. However, we were overcome when a young woman gave us a very large smile today and warm greetings. We were worried for a moment in case the ‘misery police’ were watching. We’d hate to see someone punished for smiling and greeting strangers.


Finally, before we left for the Eiger Glacier, we checked the warnings. For experienced hikers with the correct equipment it should be straightforward, the brochure advised. What that meant we had no idea. Right equipment? We have half-length boots and…So we packed our usual—a snack, a jacket each, water, a couple of diet cokes and we were ready. ‘Do you think we have everything?’ our editor asked one more time. ‘Who knows,’ we answered, “but just to be safe let’s throw in another diet coke—you can’t be too careful in these treacherous parts.’




We have so much more to add about our observations of the natural beauty of the town of Grindelwald and the majestic Alps. However, we will save that for another time.