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Grindelwald / Ski area
© copyright Grindelwald Tourismus
Competent skiers looking for variety and exploration should plan a day trip to ski Mürren’s slopes (covered on the ‘Sportpass Jungfrau’ lift pass) as a change from the Kleine Scheidegg-Männlichen area, between Grindelwald and Wengen, which is the area’s biggest ski region. The other side of Grindelwald, to the north, is First – an area that’s only convenient to reach from Grindelwald itself, and a very good reason to stay there rather than Wengen or Mürren.
First
Easily overlooked, these 50km of piste and 8 lifts have some of the area’s best skiing and superb views. First is easy to access from the village of Grindelwald and awkward from anywhere else (including from the other half of the local ski area on Kleine Scheidegg). A 3 stage gondola - the Firstbahn – gets you rapidly up to the skiing. From Schreckfeld the area opens up with chairs and draglifts. This is where you find the most reliable snow conditions. The apparently modest high points - 2170m First and 2486m Oberjoch - do in fact give significant descents to the village at 1034m, but on these south facing slopes the low altitude can mean a short season. Snowmaking down to the bottom reduces the problem and descending to town, even in spring conditions, has a magical quality: from high alp through forest, across meadows and then village outskirts. There’s a choice of black down to the gondola base in the village or lovely meandering reds that end at a remote café/restaurant from where buses return to the village.
Kleine Scheidegg/Männlichen
This is the biggest single area, directly below the Eiger. There are 100km of piste and 22 lifts with a high point of 2473m at the top of the Lauberhorn, of world cup downhill fame. Pistes descend to Grund at 950m (below the village of Grindelwald) and on the other side of the ridge to Wengen at 1274m. Trains run up from both Grund and Wengen to Kleine Scheidegg (2061m); gentle ski routes follow the tracks and elsewhere expansive, relatively easy red runs make up the majority of the skiing, most of which is on the Grindelwald side of the ridge that separates the two resorts.
As well as train access there’s a gondola from Grund and a cable car from Wengen, both of which head for Männlichen. Despite the north-easterly aspect, the lower slopes to Grund are sometimes short of snow. What Wengen wins through higher elevation it loses due to a sunnier aspect; downloading by train from an intermediate station is sometimes required.
Access to Mürren’s skiing (covered by the ‘Sportpass Jungfrau’) from Grindelwald is by train or road to Stechelberg, then cable car to Gimmelwald and on to the Schilthornbahn, or by train or road to Lauterbrunnen and funicular up to Winteregg. Or you can cross the Kleine Scheidegg by lift and ski to Wengen from where a shorter train ride links to Lauterbrunnen and Stechelberg. Either way it’s a trek with a lot of time spent on trains and lifts. On the reverse journey you can start skiing out of Wengen, but if your goal is First, it’s better to take the train round to Grindelwald.
Grindelwald
| Base | 3,392 ft (1,034 m) |
| Summit | 9,747 ft (2,971 m) |
| Elevation | 6,355 ft (1,937 m) |
| Snowmaking | |
| Ski area | |
| Beginner | 30 % |
| Intermediate | 50 % |
| Advanced | 20 % |
| Number of trails | 72 |
| Longest trail | 9 mi (15 km) |
| Snowfall | 0 inch (0 cm) |
| Season start | early Dec |
| Season end | late Apr |
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