A lake that holds the Wetterhorn twice: once in the sky, once on its surface.
Kleine Scheidegg
Two railways climb from opposite valleys and meet at 2,061 metres, under a wall of rock and ice.
Kleine Scheidegg is a mountain pass, not a village, and it exists because of a railway. The Wengernalp Railway reaches it by two separate routes: one cogwheel line climbs from Lauterbrunnen through Wengen, the other from Grindelwald, and the two converge only at the pass itself. Both journeys take about fifty minutes and gain over a thousand metres without a single tunnel.
The name means "minor watershed": here, two arms of the Lütschine river part ways before meeting again at Zweilütschinen below. The pass sits directly under the Eiger's North Face, with the Mönch and Jungfrau completing the view. In winter, Kleine Scheidegg becomes the hub of the Grindelwald-Wengen ski area and the finish line of the Lauberhorn, the longest downhill race on the World Cup circuit. In summer, the same platforms empty onto hiking trails toward Männlichen and the Eiger Glacier.
Arrive from one valley. Leave through the other.
More in Grindelwald
Cowbells drift across the ridge while the Eiger holds still against the sky.
A ridge where two valleys divide, ice fields close enough to study.
Spruce trees blur past in near silence, eleven kilometres of packed snow beneath the sledge.