Grindelwald

Altitude: 1,034 m/3,394ft

Population: 3,600

The "glacier village" of Grindelwald, one of the most popular health and winter sports resorts in the Bernese Oberland and a favorite base for climbers, straggles over a considerable expanse of Alpine meadows on the slopes of the Schwarze Lütschine valley. Three towering mountains enclose the valley on the south: the Eiger (3,970 m/13,026ft), with its sheer north face, the most dangerous mountain wall in the Alps (first climbed in 1938 by Heckmair, Vörg, Kasparek and Harrer, taking four days), on which the lights in the windows of the Eigerwand station of the Jungfraubahn can be seen twinkling after dark; to the left of the Eiger the Mettenberg (3,104 m/10,184ft), one of the subsidiary peaks of the Schreckhorn; and the Wetterhorn (3,701 m/12,143ft), the most characteristic landmark of the Grindelwald valley. Between the three mountains are the two Grindelwald glaciers.