A ridge where two valleys divide, ice fields close enough to study.
Männlichen
Cowbells drift across the ridge while the Eiger holds still against the sky.
Männlichen sits at 2,343 metres on the ridge between Wengen and Grindelwald, reached by two cable cars that climb from opposite valleys and meet at the same summit. The Wengen side crosses in five minutes over the Lauterbrunnen valley, passing above the Staubbach Falls as they drop 297 metres into the gorge below. From Grindelwald, a gondola glides for twenty minutes over pasture where the cowbells carry farther than any voice.
At the top, the Eiger's north face fills the view directly ahead, with the Mönch and Jungfrau completing the line to its right. The Panoramaweg runs from here to Kleine Scheidegg in around two hours, gentle enough for most walkers, the three peaks staying in sight for nearly the whole distance. From Kleine Scheidegg, the railway continues on to Grindelwald, Wengen, or up to the Jungfraujoch.
More in Grindelwald
Spruce trees blur past in near silence, eleven kilometres of packed snow beneath the sledge.
A steel walkway ends in open air, forty-five metres above the valley.
At the Top of Europe: A mighty glacier, permanent snow and, on clear days, France.