A must do in Switzerland: the Aletsch Glacier

A visit to the Aletsch Glacier is a must when you are in Switzerland. Why? Because it is the largest glacier in the Alps. It measures 23 kilometer in length and has a surface of about 120 square kilometers. Even though the glaciers reduces in length by approximately 50 meter every year, it is still one hell of a glacier. However, from the valley, you can't see anything of it. So you really have to go up to one of the surrounding mountains in order to see the glacier.

You can either hike or take the cable car to the glacier. There are cable car's running to the Aletsch Glacier viewpoints on Moosfluh, Bettmerhorn and Eggishorn. We choose to take the cable car to the top of the Eggishorn. For CHF 35,- we took the cable car from Fiesch to the Fiescheralp (at 2.212 meter altitude). From there, we took a second cable car to the Eggishorn (at 2.869 meter altitude).

Cable Car

We were lucky to share the two cable car rides with a large group of Japanese. Nothing wrong with Japanese of course, except for the fact that for some reason they always behave rather typical when in a group. In this case, they tried to get of the cable car all together. Simultaneously. Well, we can tell, it didn't work out. After a while, they also figured out it would be quicker to step-off one by one. Five or so minutes later, we were also able to get off and head out to the top of the Eggishorn. In about 15 minutes we walked to the top. From there, we continued over a large boulder field which required a bit of scrambling. But it was worth it. From the edge of the boulder field, you have an amazing view over the Aletsch Glacier. Surrounded by mountains that topped 3.000+ meter, with the Konkordiaplatz and the Jungfrau (4.158 meter altitude) in front of us. To the left we saw Moosflush, near the mouth of the glacier. While gasping at the view, we really felt humble.

View at the Aletsch Glacier

Aletsch Glacier Panorama

When the group of Japanese also approached the edge of the boulder field, it was time for use to move on. We packed our stuff and headed back to the cable car. We safely arrived back in the valley. Luckily, because after us, there was some kind of technical issue with the cable car. For hours, no cable car went up or down the mountain. Poor Japanese!

Aletsch Glacier

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