Grindelwald developed from ancient farming beginnings into a
long, thin resort sprawling on the main road. In recent years, it expanded
above the lower slopes of the mountain in every direction. Unlike Wengen and
Murren, it has a huge year-round trade, all thanks to its honeypot magnet - the
mountain railway cut into the Eiger rock face going to the top of the Jungfrau at 3,454m, which is currently a UNESCO World
Heritage Site.
The ski slopes on Kleine Scheidegg and Mannlichen are shared
by Grindelwald and Wengen. On the Grindelwald side, a cog railway heads up to
Kleine Scheidegg via Brandegg, while Mannlichen is served, by a super-slow
gondola in need of upgrading. Interlinked chairlifts offer plenty of red
running on the top stations and there's an appealing blue run from Kleine
Scheidegg going back to Grindelwald that is flat enough to enable first-week
skiers a sense of going places. These slopes are a bit low to be snowsure, a
problem the area is trying to resolve by installing snow cannons.
Grindelwald too, has its own mountain. First, is on the
other side of the primary road and accessed through a gondola located far from
the centre of town. The lifts at the top take you to Oberjoch, the starting
point for a user-friendly and underused complex of red and blue runs, and the
resort's top-quality black below the gondola that goes back to town. Oberjoch
is also the launch point for the region's best off-piste tours on Grosse
Scheidegg and beyond.
When it concerns mountain huts, Grindelwald is a class apart
from its neighbours, but there's plenty of choice, some of it of the
mid-station cafeteria kind. The best among these are at Berghaus Bort and
Berghaus First. The Pumuckle two-storey glass igloo is lively and
architecturally modern. On the other side, the Brandegg station restaurant has
the popular apple fritters and a suntrap terrace straight under the Eiger.
There is a snowsure and challenging terrain park on Oberjoch and a super-pipe
on top of Schreckfeld, both in the First area.
The toboggan run in Grindelwald is quite radical: it begins
with a bus ride to Bussalp, followed by a two-hour climb up the Faulhorn
(optional) - the start of a 15km descent, said to be the longest in the world.
Read more:
Skiing and Snowboarding in Grindelwald, Switzerland
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