Schweiz / Berner Oberland – Eiger, Mönch und Jungfrau
seen on the way from Allmendhubel to Grütschalp
gesehen auf dem Weg vom Allmendhubel zur Grütschalp
(Wikipedia)
The Eiger (German pronunciation: [ˈaɪ̯ɡɐ]) is a 3,967-metre (13,015 ft) mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland, just north of the main watershed and border with Valais. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends across the Mönch to the Jungfrau at 4,158 m (13,642 ft), constituting one of the most emblematic sights of the Swiss Alps. While the northern side of the mountain rises more than 3,000 m (10,000 ft) above the two valleys of Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen, the southern side faces the large glaciers of the Jungfrau-Aletsch area, the most glaciated region in the Alps. The most notable feature of the Eiger is its nearly 1,800-metre-high (5,900 ft) north face of rock and ice, named Eiger-Nordwand, Eigerwand or just Nordwand, which is the biggest north face in the Alps.] This huge face towers over the resort of Kleine Scheidegg at its base, on the eponymous pass connecting the two valleys.
The first ascent of the Eiger was made by Swiss guides Christian Almer and Peter Bohren and Irishman Charles Barrington, who climbed the west flank on August 11, 1858. The north face, the "last problem" of the Alps, considered amongst the most challenging and dangerous ascents, was first climbed in 1938 by an Austrian-German expedition.The Eiger has been highly publicized for the many tragedies involving climbing expeditions. Since 1935, at least 64 climbers have died attempting the north face, earning it the German nickname Mordwand, literally "murder(ous) wall"—a pun on its correct title of Nordwand (North Wall).
Although the summit of the Eiger can be reached by experienced climbers only, a railway tunnel runs inside the mountain, and two internal stations provide easy access to viewing-windows carved into the rock face. They are both part of the Jungfrau Railway line, running from Kleine Scheidegg to the Jungfraujoch, between the Mönch and the Jungfrau, at the highest railway station in Europe. The two stations within the Eiger are Eigerwand (behind the north face) and Eismeer (behind the south face), at around 3,000 metres. The Eigerwand station has not been regularly served since 2016.
Etymology
The first mention of Eiger, appearing as "mons Egere", was found in a property sale document of 1252, but there is no clear indication of how exactly the peak gained its name. The three mountains of the ridge are commonly referred to as the Virgin (German: Jungfrau – translates to "virgin" or "maiden"), the Monk (Mönch), and the Ogre (Eiger; the standard German word for ogre is Oger). The name has been linked to the Latin term acer, meaning "sharp" or "pointed".
Geographic setting and description
The Eiger is located above the Lauterbrunnen Valley to the west and Grindelwald to the north in the Bernese Oberland region of the canton of Bern. It forms a renowned mountain range of the Bernese Alps together with its two companions: the Jungfrau (4,158 m (13,642 ft)) about 5.6 kilometres (3.5 mi) southwest of it and the Mönch (4,107 m (13,474 ft)) about in the middle of them. The nearest settlements are Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen (795 m (2,608 ft)) and Wengen (1,274 m (4,180 ft)). The Eiger has three faces: north (or more precisely NNW), east (or more precisely ESE), and west (or more precisely WSW). The northeastern ridge from the summit to the Ostegg (lit.: eastern corner, 2,709 m (8,888 ft)), called Mittellegi, is the longest on the Eiger. The north face overlooks the gently rising Alpine meadow between Grindelwald (943 m (3,094 ft)) and Kleine Scheidegg (2,061 m (6,762 ft)), a mountain railways junction and a pass, which can be reached from both sides, Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen/Wengen – by foot or train.
Politically, the Eiger (and its summit) belongs to the Bernese municipalities of Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen. The Kleine Scheidegg (literally, the small parting corner) connects the Männlichen-Tschuggen range with the western ridge of the Eiger. The Eiger does not properly form part of the main chain of the Bernese Alps, which borders the canton of Valais and forms the watershed between the Rhine and the Rhône, but constitutes a huge limestone buttress, projecting from the crystalline basement of the Mönch across the Eigerjoch. Consequently, all sides of the Eiger feed finally the same river, namely the Lütschine.
Eiger’s water is connected through the Weisse Lütschine (the white one) in the Lauterbrunnen Valley on the west side (southwestern face of the Eiger), and through the Schwarze Lütschine (the black one) running through Grindelwald (northwestern face), which meet each other in Zweilütschinen (lit.: the two Lütschinen) where they form the proper Lütschine. The east face is covered by the glacier called Ischmeer, (Bernese German for Ice Sea), which forms one upper part of the fast-retreating Lower Grindelwald Glacier. These glaciers’ water forms a short creek, which is also confusingly called the Weisse Lütschine, but enters the black one already in Grindelwald together with the water from the Upper Grindelwald Glacier. Therefore, all the water running down the Eiger converges at the northern foot of the Männlichen (2,342 m (7,684 ft)) in Zweilütschinen (654 m (2,146 ft)), about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) northwest of the summit, where the Lütschine begins its northern course to Lake Brienz and the Aare (564 m (1,850 ft)).
Although the north face of the Eiger is almost free of ice, significant glaciers lie at the other sides of the mountain. The Eiger Glacier flows on the southwestern side of the Eiger, from the crest connecting it to the Mönch down to 2,400 m (7,900 ft), south of Eigergletscher railway station, and feeds the Weisse Lütschine through the Trümmelbach. On the east side, the Ischmeer–well visible from the windows of Eismeer railway station–flows eastwards from the same crest then turns to the north below the impressive wide Fiescherwand, the north face of the Fiescherhörner triple summit (4,049 m (13,284 ft)) down to about 1,600 m (5,200 ft) of the Lower Grindelwald Glacier system.
The massive composition of the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau constitutes an emblematic sight of the Swiss Alps and is visible from many places on the Swiss Plateau and the Jura Mountains in the northwest. The higher Finsteraarhorn (4,270 m (14,010 ft)) and Aletschhorn (4,190 m (13,750 ft)), which are located about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) to the south, are generally less visible and situated in the middle of glaciers in less accessible areas. As opposed to the north side, the south and east sides of the range consist of large valley glaciers extending for up to 22 kilometres (14 mi), the largest (beyond the Eiger drainage basin) being those of Grand Aletsch, Fiesch, and Aar Glaciers, and is thus uninhabited. The whole area, the Jungfrau-Aletsch protected area, comprising the highest summits and largest glaciers of the Bernese Alps, was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.
In July 2006, a piece of the Eiger, amounting to approximately 700,000 cubic metres of rock, fell from the east face. As it had been noticeably cleaving for several weeks and fell into an uninhabited area, there were no injuries and no buildings were hit.
Climbing history
While the summit was reached without much difficulty in 1858 by a complex route on the west flank, the battle to climb the north face has captivated the interest of climbers and non-climbers alike. Before it was successfully climbed, most of the attempts on the face ended tragically and the Bernese authorities even banned climbing it and threatened to fine any party that should attempt it again. But the enthusiasm which animated the young talented climbers from Austria and Germany finally vanquished its reputation of unclimbability when a party of four climbers successfully reached the summit in 1938 by what is known as the "1938" or "Heckmair" route.
The climbers that attempted the north face could be easily watched through the telescopes from the Kleine Scheidegg, a pass between Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen, connected by rail. The contrast between the comfort and civilization of the railway station and the agonies of the young men slowly dying a short yet uncrossable distance away led to intensive coverage by the international media.
After World War II, the north face was climbed twice in 1947, first by a party of two French guides, Louis Lachenal and Lionel Terray, then by a Swiss party consisting of H. Germann, with Hans and Karl Schlunegger.
First ascent
In 1857, a first recorded attempt was made by Christian Almer, Christian Kaufmann, Ulrich Kaufmann guiding the Austrian alpinist Sigismund Porges. They did manage the first ascent of neighboring Mönch instead. Porges, however, successfully made the second ascent of the Eiger in July 1861 with the guides Christian Michel, Hans and Peter Baumann.
The first ascent was made by the western flank on August 11, 1858 by Charles Barrington with guides Christian Almer and Peter Bohren. On the previous afternoon, the party walked up to the Wengernalp hotel. From there they started the ascent of the Eiger at 3:30 a.m. Barrington describes the route much as it is followed today, staying close to the edge of the north face much of the way. They reached the summit at about noon, planted a flag, stayed for some 10 minutes and descended in about four hours. Barrington describes the reaching of the top, saying, "the two guides kindly gave me the place of first man up." After the descent, the party was escorted to the Kleine Scheidegg hotel, where their ascent was confirmed by observation of the flag left on the summit. The owner of the hotel then fired a cannon to celebrate the first ascent. According to Harrer’s The White Spider, Barrington was originally planning to make the first ascent of the Matterhorn, but his finances did not allow him to travel there as he was already staying in the Eiger region.
Mittellegi ridge
Although the Mittellegi ridge had already been descended by climbers (since 1885) with the use of ropes in the difficult sections, it remained unclimbed until 1921. On the 10th of September of that year, Japanese climber Yuko Maki, along with Swiss guides Fritz Amatter, Samuel Brawand and Fritz Steuri made the first successful ascent of the ridge. The previous day, the party approached the ridge from the Eismeer railway station of the Jungfrau Railway and bivouacked for the night. They started the climb at about 6:00 a.m. and reached the summit of the Eiger at about 7:15 p.m., after an over 13 hours gruelling ascent. Shortly after, they descended the west flank. They finally reached Eigergletscher railway station at about 3:00 a.m. the next day.
Attempts on the north face
1935
In 1935, two young German climbers from Bavaria, Karl Mehringer and Max Sedlmeyer, arrived at Grindelwald to attempt the ascent of the north face. After waiting some time for the weather to improve, they set off, reaching the height of the Eigerwand station before stopping for their first bivouac. The following day, facing greater difficulties, they gained little height. On the third day, they made hardly any vertical gain. That night, the weather deteriorated, bringing snow and low cloud that shrouded the mountain from the observers below. Avalanches began to sweep the face. Two days later, the weather briefly cleared, and the two men were glimpsed a little higher and about to bivouac for the fifth night, before clouds descended again. A few days later, the weather finally cleared, revealing a completely white north face.: 225 Weeks later, the German World War I ace Ernst Udet went searching for the missing men with his aircraft, eventually spotting one of them frozen to death in what became known as the "Death Bivouac". Sedlmeyer’s body was found at the foot of the face the following year by his brothers Heinrich and Martin Meier, who were part of a group looking for the victims of the 1936 climbing disaster. Mehringer’s remains were found in 1962 by Swiss climbers below the "Flat Iron" (Bügeleisen) at the lefthand end of the second ice field.
1936
The next year ten young climbers from Austria and Germany came to Grindelwald and camped at the foot of the mountain. Before their attempts started one of them was killed during a training climb, and the weather was so bad during that summer that, after waiting for a change and seeing none on the way, several members of the party gave up. Of the four that remained, two were Bavarians, Andreas Hinterstoisser and Toni Kurz, and two were Austrians, Willy Angerer and Edi Rainer. When the weather improved they made a preliminary exploration of the lowest part of the face. Hinterstoisser fell 37 metres (121 ft) but was not injured. A few days later the four men finally began the ascent of the face. They climbed quickly, but on the next day, after their first bivouac, the weather changed; clouds came down and hid the group to the observers. They did not resume the climb until the following day, when, during a break, the party was seen descending, but the climbers could be seen only intermittently from the ground. The group had no choice but to retreat, since Angerer had suffered serious injuries from falling rock. The party became stuck on the face when they could not recross the difficult Hinterstoisser Traverse, from which they had taken the rope they had first used to climb it. The weather then deteriorated for two days. They were ultimately swept away by an avalanche, which only Kurz survived, hanging on a rope. Three guides started on an extremely perilous rescue attempt. They failed to reach him but came within shouting distance and learned what had happened. Kurz explained the fate of his companions: one had fallen down the face, another was frozen above him, and the third had fractured his skull in falling and was hanging dead on the rope.
In the morning the three guides came back, traversing the face from a hole near the Eigerwand station and risking their lives under incessant avalanches. Toni Kurz was still alive but almost helpless, with one hand and one arm completely frozen. Kurz hauled himself off the cliff after cutting loose the rope that bound him to his dead teammate below and climbed back onto the face. The guides were not able to pass an unclimbable overhang that separated them from Kurz. They managed to give him a rope long enough to reach them by tying two ropes together. While descending, Kurz could not get the knot to pass through his carabiner. He tried for hours to reach his rescuers who were only a few metres below him. Then he began to lose consciousness. One of the guides, climbing on another’s shoulders, was able to touch the tip of Kurz’s crampons with his ice-axe but could not reach higher. Kurz was unable to descend further and, completely exhausted, died slowly.
1937
An attempt was made in 1937 by Mathias Rebitsch and Ludwig Vörg. Although the attempt was unsuccessful, they were nonetheless the first climbers who returned alive from a serious attempt on the face. They started the climb on 11 August and reached a high point of a few rope lengths above Death Bivouac. A storm then broke and after three days on the wall they had to retreat. This was the first successful withdrawal from a significant height on the wall.
First ascent of the north face
The north face was first climbed on July 24, 1938 by Anderl Heckmair, Ludwig Vörg, Heinrich Harrer and Fritz Kasparek in a German–Austrian party. The party had originally consisted of two independent teams: Harrer (who did not have a pair of crampons on the climb) and Kasparek were joined on the face by Heckmair and Vörg, who had started their ascent a day later and had been helped by the fixed rope that the lead team had left across the Hinterstoisser Traverse. The two groups, led by the experienced Heckmair, decided to join their forces and roped together as a single group of four. Heckmair later wrote: "We, the sons of the older Reich, united with our companions from the Eastern Border to march together to victory."
The expedition was constantly threatened by snow avalanches and climbed as quickly as possible between the falls. On the third day a storm broke and the cold was intense. The four men were caught in an avalanche as they climbed "the Spider," the snow-filled cracks radiating from an ice-field on the upper face, but all possessed sufficient strength to resist being swept off the face. The members successfully reached the summit at four o’clock in the afternoon. They were so exhausted that they only just had the strength to descend by the normal route through a raging blizzard.
Other notable events
1864 (Jul 27): Fourth ascent, and first ascent by a woman, Lucy Walker, who was part of a group of six guides (including Christian Almer and Melchior Anderegg) and five clients, including her brother Horace Walker[
1871: First ascent by the southwest ridge, 14 July (Christian Almer, Christian Bohren, and Ulrich Almer guiding W. A. B. Coolidge and Meta Brevoort).
1890: First ascent in winter, Ulrich Kaufmann and Christian Jossi guiding C. W. Mead and G. F. Woodroffe.
1924: First ski ascent and descent via the Eiger glacier by Englishman Arnold Lunn and the Swiss Fritz Amacher, Walter Amstutz and Willy Richardet.
1932: First ascent of the northeast face ("Lauper route") by Hans Lauper, Alfred Zürcher, Alexander Graven and Josef Knubel
1970: First ski descent over the west flank, by Sylvain Saudan.
1986: Welshman Eric Jones becomes the first person to BASE jump from the Eiger.
1988: Original Route (ED2), north face, Eiger (3970m), Alps, Switzerland, first American solo (nine and a half hours) by Mark Wilford.
1991: First ascent, Metanoia Route, North Face, solo, winter, without bolts, Jeff Lowe.
1992 (18 July): Three BMG/UIAGM/IFMGA clients died in a fall down the West Flank: Willie Dunnachie; Douglas Gaines; and Phillip Davies. They had ascended the mountain via the Mittellegi Ridge.
2006 (14 June): François Bon and Antoine Montant make the first speedflying descent of the Eiger.
2006 (15 July): Approximately 700,000 cubic metres (20 million cubic feet) of rock from the east side collapses. No injuries or damage were reported.
2015 (23 July): A team of British Para-Climbers reached the summit via the West Flank Route. The team included John Churcher, the world’s first blind climber to summit the Eiger, sight guided by the team leader Mark McGowan. Colin Gourlay enabled the ascent of other team members, including Al Taylor who has multiple sclerosis, and the young autistic climber Jamie Owen from North Wales. The ascent was filmed by the adventure filmmakers Euan Ryan & Willis Morris of Finalcrux Films.
Books and films
The 1959 book The White Spider by Heinrich Harrer describes the first successful ascent of the Eiger north face.
The Climb Up To Hell, 1962, by Jack Olson, an account of the ill-fated 1957 attempted climb of the north face by an Italian four-man team and the dramatic rescue of the sole survivor mounted by an international all-volunteer group of rescuers.
Eiger Direct, 1966, by Dougal Haston and Peter Gillman, London: Collins, also known as Direttissima; the Eiger Assault
The 1971 novel The Ice Mirror by Charles MacHardy describes the second attempted ascent of the Eiger north face by the main character.
The 1972 novel The Eiger Sanction is an action/thriller novel by Rodney William Whitaker (writing under the pseudonym Trevanian), based around the climbing of the Eiger. This was then made into the 1975 film The Eiger Sanction starring Clint Eastwood and George Kennedy. The Eiger Sanction film crew included very experienced mountaineers (e.g., Mike Hoover, Dougal Haston, and Hamish MacInnes, see Summit, 52, Spring 2010) as consultants, to ensure accuracy in the climbing footage, equipment and techniques.
The Eiger, 1974, by Dougal Haston, London: Cassell
The 1982 book Eiger, Wall of Death by Arthur Roth is an historical account of first ascents of the north face.
The 1982 book Traverse of The Gods by Bob Langley is a World War II spy thriller where a group escaping from Nazi Germany is trapped and the only possible exit route is via the Nordwand.
Eiger, 1983, a documentary film by Leo Dickinson of Eric Jones’ 1981 solo ascent of the north face.
Eiger Dreams, 1990, a collection of essays by Jon Krakauer, begins with an account of Krakauer’s own attempt to climb the north face.
Eiger: The Vertical Arena (German edition, 1998; English edition, 2000), edited by Daniel Anker, a comprehensive climbing history of the north face authored by 17 climbers, with numerous photographs and illustrations.
The IMAX film The Alps features John Harlin III’s climb up the north face in September 2005. Harlin’s father, John Harlin II, set out 40 years earlier to attempt a direct route (the direttissima) up the 6,000-foot (1,800 m) face, the so-called "John Harlin route". At 1300 m, his rope broke, and he fell to his death. Composer James Swearingen created a piece named Eiger: Journey to the Summit in his memory.
The 2007 docu/drama film The Beckoning Silence featuring mountaineer Joe Simpson, recounting—with filmed reconstructions—the ill-fated 1936 expedition up the north face of the Eiger and how Heinrich Harrer’s book The White Spider inspired him to take up climbing. The film followed Simpson’s eponymous 2003 book. Those playing the parts of the original climbing team were Swiss mountain guides Roger Schäli (Toni Kurz), Simon Anthamatten (Andreas Hinterstoisser), Dres Abegglen (Willy Angerer) and Cyrille Berthod (Edi Rainer). The documentary won an Emmy Award the subsequent year.
The 2008 German historical fiction film Nordwand is based on the 1936 attempt to climb the Eiger north face. The film is about the two German climbers, Toni Kurz and Andreas Hinterstoisser, involved in a competition with an Austrian duo to be the first to scale the north face of Eiger.
The 2010 documentary Eiger: Wall of Death by Steve Robinson.
(Wikipedia)
The Mönch (German pronunciation: [ˈmœnç] German: "monk") at 4,110 metres (13,480 ft) is a mountain in the Bernese Alps, in Switzerland. Together with the Eiger and the Jungfrau, it forms a highly recognisable group of mountains, visible from far away.
The Mönch lies on the border between the cantons of Valais and Bern, and forms part of a mountain ridge between the Jungfrau and Jungfraujoch to the west, and the Eiger to the east. It is west of Mönchsjoch, a pass at 3,650 metres (11,980 ft), Mönchsjoch Hut, and north of the Jungfraufirn and Ewigschneefäld, two affluents of the Great Aletsch Glacier. The north side of the Mönch forms a step wall above the Lauterbrunnen valley.
The Jungfrau railway tunnel runs right under the summit, at an elevation of approximately 3,300 metres (10,830 ft).
The summit was first climbed on record on 15 August 1857 by Christian Almer, Christian Kaufmann (1831-1861), Ulrich Kaufmann and Sigismund Porges.
(Wikipedia)
The Jungfrau (YOONG-frow, German pronunciation: [ˈjʊŋˌfʁaʊ̯], transl. "maiden, virgin"), at 4,158 meters (13,642 ft) is one of the main summits of the Bernese Alps, located between the northern canton of Bern and the southern canton of Valais, halfway between Interlaken and Fiesch. Together with the Eiger and Mönch, the Jungfrau forms a massive wall of mountains overlooking the Bernese Oberland and the Swiss Plateau, one of the most distinctive sights of the Swiss Alps.
The summit was first reached on August 3, 1811, by the Meyer brothers of Aarau and two chamois hunters from Valais. The ascent followed a long expedition over the glaciers and high passes of the Bernese Alps. It was not until 1865 that a more direct route on the northern side was opened.
The construction of the Jungfrau Railway in the early 20th century, which connects Kleine Scheidegg to the Jungfraujoch, the saddle between the Mönch and the Jungfrau, made the area one of the most-visited places in the Alps. Along with the Aletsch Glacier to the south, the Jungfrau is part of the Jungfrau-Aletsch area, which was declared a World Heritage Site in 2001.
Etymology
The name Jungfrau ("maiden, virgin"), which refers to the highest of the three prominent mountains overlooking the Interlaken region, along with the Mönch ("monk") and the Eiger ("ogre"), is most likely derived from the name Jungfrauenberg given to Wengernalp, the alpine meadow directly facing the huge northern side of the Jungfrau, across the Trummelbach gorge. Wengernalp was so named for the nuns of Interlaken Monastery, its historical owner. Contrary to popular belief, the name did not originate from the appearance of the snow-covered mountain, the latter looking like a veiled woman.
The "virgin" peak was heavily romanticized as "goddess" or "priestess" in late 18th to 19th century Romanticism. Its summit, considered inaccessible, remained untouched until the 19th century. After the first ascent in 1811 by Swiss alpinist Johann Rudolf Meyer, the peak was jokingly referred to as "Mme Meyer" (Mrs. Meyer).
Geographic setting
Politically, the Jungfrau (and its massif) is split between the municipalities of Lauterbrunnen (Bern) and Fieschertal (Valais). It is the third-highest mountain of the Bernese Alps after the nearby Finsteraarhorn and Aletschhorn, respectively 12 and 8 km (7.5 and 5 mi) away. But from Lake Thun, and the greater part of the canton of Bern, it is the most conspicuous and the nearest of the Bernese Oberland peaks; with a height difference of 3,600 m (11,800 ft) between the summit and the town of Interlaken. This, and the extreme steepness of the north face, secured for it an early reputation for inaccessibility.
The Jungfrau is the westernmost and highest point of a gigantic 10 km (6.2 mi) wall dominating the valleys of Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald. The wall is formed by the alignment of some of the biggest north faces in the Alps, with the Mönch (4,107 m or 13,474 ft) and Eiger (3,967 m or 13,015 ft) to the east of the Jungfrau, and overlooks the valleys to its north by a height of up to 3 km (1.9 mi). The Jungfrau is approximately 6 km (3.7 mi) from the Eiger; with the summit of the Mönch between the two mountains, 3.5 km (2.2 mi) from the Jungfrau. The Jungfraujoch is the saddle between the Jungfrau and the Mönch and the Eigerjoch is the saddle between the Mönch and the Eiger. The wall is extended to the east by the Fiescherwand and to the west by the Lauterbrunnen Wall, although it follows different directions from the Jungfrau and the Eiger.
The difference of altitude between the deep valley of Lauterbrunnen (800 m or 2,600 ft) and the summit is particularly visible from the area of Mürren. From the valley floor, west of the massif, the altitude gain is more than 3 km (1.9 mi) for a horizontal distance of 4 km (2.5 mi).
The landscapes around the Jungfrau are extremely contrasted. In contrast to the vertiginous precipices of its northwest, the mountain’s southeastern side emerges from the upper snows of the Jungfraufirn, one of the main feeders of the Aletsch Glacier, at around 3,500 meters (11,500 ft). The 20-kilometer-long (12 mi) valley of Aletsch on the southeast is completely uninhabited, and is surrounded by neighboring valleys with similar landscapes. The area as a whole constitutes the largest glaciated area not just in the Alps, but in Europe as well.
Climbing history
In 1811, the brothers Johann Rudolf (1768–1825) and Hieronymus Meyer, sons of Johann Rudolf Meyer (1739–1813), the head of a rich merchant family of Aarau, along with several servants and a porter picked up at Guttannen, first reached the Valais by way of the Grimsel, and crossed the Beich Pass, a glacier pass over the Oberaletsch Glacier, to the head of the Lötschen valley. There, they added two local chamois hunters, Alois Volken and Joseph Bortis, to their party and traversed the Lötschenlücke before reaching the Aletschfirn (the west branch of the Aletsch Glacier), where they established the base camp, north of the Aletschhorn. After the Guttannen porter was sent back alone over the Lötschenlücke, the party finally reached the summit of the Jungfrau by the Rottalsattel on August 3. They then recrossed the two passes named to their point of departure in Valais, and went home again over the Grimsel.
The journey was a most extraordinary one for the time, and some persons threw doubts at its complete success. To settle these, another expedition was undertaken in 1812. In this the two sons, Rudolf (1791–1833) and Gottlieb (1793–1829), of Johann Rudolf Meyer, played the chief parts. After an unsuccessful attempt, defeated by bad weather, in the course of which the Oberaarjoch was crossed twice (this route being much more direct than the long detour through the Lötschental), Rudolf, with the two Valais hunters (Alois Volker and Joseph Bortis), a Guttannen porter named Arnold Abbühl, and a Hasle man, bivouacked on a depression on the southeast ridge of the Finsteraarhorn. Next day (August 16) the whole party attempted the ascent of the Finsteraarhorn from the Studer névé on the east by way of the southeast ridge, but Meyer, exhausted, remained behind. The following day the party crossed the Grünhornlücke to the Aletsch Glacier, but bad weather then put an end to further projects. At a bivouac, probably just opposite the present Konkordia Hut, the rest of the party, having come over the Oberaarjoch and the Grünhornlücke, joined the Finsteraarhorn party. Gottlieb, Rudolf’s younger brother, had more patience than the rest and remained longer at the huts near the Märjelensee, where the adventurers had taken refuge. He could make the second ascent (September 3) of the Jungfrau, the Rottalsattel being reached from the east side as is now usual, and his companions being the two Valais hunters.
The third ascent dates from 1828, when several men from Grindelwald, headed by Peter Baumann, planted their flag upon the summit. Next came the ascent by Louis Agassiz, James David Forbes, Heath, Desor, and Duchatelier in 1841, recounted by Desor in his Excursions et Séjours dans les Glaciers. Gottlieb Samuel Studer published an account of the next ascent made by himself and Bürki in 1842.
In 1863, a party consisting of three young Oxford University graduates and three Swiss guides successfully reached the summit and returned to the base camp of the Faulberg (located near the present position of the Konkordia Hut) in less than 11 hours (see the section below, The 1863 Ascent). In the same year Mrs Stephen Winkworth became the first woman to climb the Jungfrau. She also slept overnight in the Faulberg cave prior to the ascent as there was no hut at that time.
Before the construction of the Jungfraujoch railway tunnel, the approach from the glaciers on the south side was very long. The first direct route from the valley of Lauterbrunnen was opened in 1865 by Geoffrey Winthrop Young, H. Brooke George with the guide Christian Almer. They had to carry ladders with them in order to cross the many crevasses on the north flank. Having spent the night on the rocks of the Schneehorn (3,402 m or 11,161 ft) they gained next morning the Silberlücke, the depression between the Jungfrau and Silberhorn, and thence in little more than three hours reached the summit. Descending to the Aletsch Glacier they crossed the Mönchsjoch, and passed a second night on the rocks, reaching Grindelwald next day. This route became a usual until the opening of the Jungfraujoch.
The first winter ascent was made on 23 January 1874, by Meta Brevoort and W. A. B. Coolidge with guides Christian and Ulrich Almer. They used a sled to reach the upper Aletsch Glacier, and were accompanied by Miss Brevoort’s favorite dog, Tschingel.
The Jungfrau was climbed via the west side for the first time in 1885 by Fritz and Heinrich von Allmen, Ulrich Brunner, Fritz Graf, Karl Schlunegger and Johann Stäger—all from Wengen. They ascended the Rottal ridge (Innere Rottalgrat) and reached the summit on 21 September. The more difficult and dangerous northeast ridge that connects the summit from the Jungfraujoch was first climbed on 30 July 1911 by Albert Weber and Hans Schlunegger.
In July 2007, six Swiss Army recruits, part of the Mountain Specialists Division 1, died in an accident on the normal route. Although the causes of the deaths was not immediately clear, a report by the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research concluded that the avalanche risk was unusually high due to recent snowfall, and that there was "no other reasonable explanation" other than an avalanche for the incident.
The 1863 Ascent
The Führerbuch of the Alpine guide Peter Baumann records an ascent of the Jungfrau made by himself with three men from England in July 1863. The foreign climbers were long thought to have been John Tyndall, J.J. Hornby and T.H. Philpott, until in 1958 the records were checked by the Alpine Club and the following conclusion was reached:
On July 23, 1963, Phillpotts, with James Robertson and H.J. Chaytor, climbed the Jungfrau (the entry shown in A.J. 32. 227 was wrongly transcribed by Montagnier, who says ‘T.H. Philpott’ for J.S. Phillpotts). The entry in Peter Baumann’s Führerbuch (facsimile in A.C. archives) says that the trio crossed the Strahlegg Pass and the Oberaarjoch, and then climbed the Jungfrau from the Eggishorn.
Tyndall, Hornby and Philpott were well-known Alpinists, but there is no record of their having attempted the Jungfrau in 1863. Robertson, Chaytor and Phillpotts were novices; they had recently graduated from Oxford University where they had all been keen members of the Oxford University Boat Club.
William Robertson (1839–1892), the leader of the expedition (wrongly called ‘James’ in the Note quoted above), was an Australian by birth, and the first non-British national to take part in the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. He later became a barrister and member of parliament in Australia. He and H.J. Chaytor (possibly the father of the medievalist Henry John Chaytor) were both members of the victorious Oxford team in the 1861 Boat Race. James Surtees Phillpotts (1839–1930) was the third member of the team; he would later become headmaster of Bedford School. The trio had three Swiss guides, Peter Baumann, Peter Kaufmann ("Grabipeter", father of Peter Kaufmann the younger) and Rubi.
A description of the ascent of the Jungfrau is contained in a letter dated Sunday 26 July which Phillpotts wrote to his friend Alexander Potts (later to become the first headmaster of Fettes College). The letter is now in the possession of the Alpine Club. The following extracts are from that letter.
The Virgin certainly did not smile on the poor "fools who rushed in" on her sacred heights, i.e. in plain British, we had the treadmill slog, the biting wind, the half frost-bitten feet and the flayed faces that generally attend an Alpine ascent.
We got to the Faulberg hole about dark, and enjoyed the coffee the longman (Kauffmann) made, as one would in a hole in a rock in a cold evening. The "Faulberg Nachtlager" consists of two holes and a vestibule to the upper hole. The Upper Hole in which we lodged just contained Chay[tor], the Guv [Robertson] and myself, stretched at full length on a little hay over a hard rock mattress, convex instead of concave at the point where one likes to rest one’s weight. Chaytor was in the middle, and as we were very close was warm and slept. The Guv and I courted Nature’s soft nurse in vain. At two we got up and methodically put our feet into the stocks, i.e. our boots, breakfasted and shivered, then started (unwashed of course, as the cold gave us malignant hydrophobia) a little after 3:30.
The hole was about 150 feet [46 m] up one of the loose stone cliffs one now knows so well. So we groped our way down it and over the moraine – the stars still lingering, as day was just dawning. We could not start at 1:30, the proper time, as there was no moon and we wanted light as we had to tramp the glacier at once. Rubi led, and off we went, roped and in Indian file, in the old treadmill way over the slippery plowed-field-like snow that lay on the upper glacier, for a pull without a check of one or two hours.
At last we came to the region of bergschrunds and crevasses. They seemed to form at first an impassable labyrinth, but gradually the guides wound in and out between the large rifts, which were exquisitely lovely with their overhanging banks of snow and glittering icicles, and then trod as on pins and needles over a snowbridge here and there, or had to take a jump over the more feasible ones – and we found ourselves at the foot of the mountain; trudged up on the snow which ought to have been crisp but was even then more or less fresh fallen and sloppy; had to creep over about three crevasses, and after a tiresome pull, dragging one leg after another out of ankle or knee deep snow, we got on a crest of snow at right angles to the slope we had just come up. That slope with its crevasses on one side, and on the other a shorter and much steeper one which led in a few steps to a precipice.
All along this crest went a snakelike long crevasse, for which we had continually to sound, and go first one side and then the other; then we got to the foot of the saddle. Some twenty or thirty steps, some cut, some uncut, soon took us up a kind of hollow, and we got on a little sloping plateau of some six feet [1.8 m] large, where we left the grub and the knapsack, keeping my small flask of cognac only. Then up a steep ice slope, very steep I should say, down which the bits of ice cut out of the steps hopped and jumped at full gallop and then bounded over to some bottomless place which we could not see down. Their pace gave one an unpleasant idea of the possible consequence of a slip.
Here we encountered a biting bitter wind. Peter Baumann cut magnificent steps, at least he and Rubi did between them, the one improving on the other’s first rough blows. After Rubi came Chaytor with Kauffmann behind him, then the Guv, and then myself, the tail of the string. Each step was a long lift from the last one, and as the snow was shallow they had to be cut in the ice which was like rock on this last slope.
Suddenly there burst upon us, on lifting our heads over the ridge, the green and cheerful valleys of Lauterbrunnen and Interlaken, of Grindelwald and a distant view of others equally beautiful stretching on for ever in one vast panorama. On the other side in grim contrast there was a wild and even awful scene. One gazed about one and tried in vain to see to the bottom of dark yawning abysses and sheer cliffs of ice or rock.
Tourism
Named after the Jungfrau, the Jungfrau Region of the Bernese Oberland is a major tourist destination in the Alps and includes a large number of railways and other facilities. While the mountain peak was once difficult to access, the Jungfrau Railway, a rack railway, now goes to the Jungfraujoch railway station at 3,454 m (11,332 ft), therefore providing an easy access to the upper Aletsch Glacier and a relatively short access to the Jungfrau itself, the height difference between the station and the summit being only 704 metres and the horizontal distance being slightly less than 2 kilometres. As a result, in the popular mind, the Jungfrau has become a mountain associated with the Bernese Oberland and Interlaken, rather than with Upper Valais and Fiesch.
In 1893, Adolf Guyer-Zeller conceived of the idea of a railway tunnel to the Jungfraujoch to make the glaciated areas on its south side more accessible. The building of the tunnel took 16 years and the summit station was not opened before 1912. The goal was in fact to reach the summit of the Jungfrau with an elevator from the highest railway station, located inside the mountain. The complete project was not realized because of the outbreak of the World War I. Nevertheless, it was at the time one of the highest railways in the world and remains today the highest in Europe and the only (non-cable) railway on Earth going well past the perennial snow-line.
The Jungfrau Railway leaves from Kleine Scheidegg, which can be reached from both sides by trains from Grindelwald, and Lauterbrunnen via Wengen. The train enters the Jungfrau Tunnel running eastward through the Eiger just above Eigergletscher, which is, since 2020, also accessible by aerial tramway from Grindelwald. Before arriving at the Jungfraujoch, it stops for a few minutes at two other stations, Eigerwand (on the north face of the Eiger) and Eismeer (on the south side), where passengers can see through the holes excavated from the mountain. The journey from Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch takes approximately 50 minutes including the stops; the downhill return journey taking only 35 minutes.
A large complex of tunnels and buildings has been constructed at the Jungfraujoch, referred to as the "Top of Europe". There are several restaurants and bars, shops, multimedia exhibitions, a post office, and a research station with dedicated accommodation facilities. An elevator enables access to the top of the Sphinx and its observatory, at 3,571 m (11,716 ft), the highest viewing platform of the area. Outside, at the level of the Jungfraujoch, there is a ski school, and the "Ice Palace", a collection of elaborate ice sculptures displayed inside the Aletsch Glacier. Another tunnel leads to the east side of the Sphinx, where one can walk on the glacier up to the Mönchsjoch Hut, the only hotel infrastructure in the area.
Apart from the Jungfraujoch, many facilities have been built in the Jungfrau Region, including numerous mountain railways. In 1908, the first public cable car in the world, the Wetterhorn Elevator, opened at the foot of the Wetterhorn, but was closed seven years later. The Schilthorn above Mürren, the Männlichen above Wengen, and the Schynige Platte above Wilderswil, offer good views of the Jungfrau and the Lauterbrunnen valley. On the south side, the Eggishorn above Fiesch also offers views of the Jungfrau, across the Aletsch Glacier.
Climbing routes
The normal route follows the traces of the first climbers, but the long approach on the Aletsch Glacier is no longer necessary. From the area of the Jungfraujoch the route to the summit takes only a few hours. Most climbers start from the Mönchsjoch Hut. After a traverse of the Jungfraufirn the route heads to the Rottalsattel (3,885 m or 12,746 ft), from where the southern ridge leads to the Jungfrau. It is not considered a very difficult climb but it can be dangerous on the upper section above the Rottalsattel, where most accidents happen.[5] The use of the Jungfrau Railway instead of the much more gradual approach from Fiesch (or Fieschertal), via the Konkordia Hut, can cause some acclimatization troubles as the difference of altitude between the railway stations of Interlaken and Jungfraujoch is almost 3 km (1.9 mi).
(Wikipedia)
Der Eiger ist ein Berg in den Berner Alpen mit einer Höhe von 3967 m ü. M. Er ist dem Hauptkamm der Berner Alpen etwas nördlich vorgelagert und steht vollständig auf dem Territorium des Schweizer Kantons Bern. Zusammen mit Mönch und Jungfrau, deren Gipfel auf der Grenze zum Kanton Wallis liegen, dominiert der Eiger die Landschaft des zentralen Berner Oberlandes. Die etwa 3000 Meter über dem Tal aufragenden Nordflanken dieser Berge stellen die Schauseite einer der bekanntesten je als ein «Dreigestirn» bezeichneten Gipfel-Dreiergruppen in den Alpen dar.
Insbesondere die Nordwand des Eigers fasziniert sowohl Bergsteiger als auch Alpin-Laien. Durch dramatische Begehungsversuche und gelungene Begehungen dieser Wand wurde der Eiger weltweit bekannt und immer wieder ins Blickfeld der Öffentlichkeit gerückt – nicht zuletzt, da die gesamte Wand von Grindelwald und der Bahnstation Kleine Scheidegg aus einsehbar ist. Die Jungfraubahn mit ihrem Tunnel durch den Eigerfels ist seit ihrer Eröffnung im Jahr 1912 ein Touristenmagnet.
Namensherkunft
Die erste urkundliche Erwähnung des Eigers stammt aus dem Jahre 1252 – dies ist die zweitfrüheste urkundliche Erwähnung eines Schweizer Bergs nach dem Bietschhorn (1233). Am 24. Juli 1252 wurde in einer Verkaufsurkunde zwischen Ita von Wädiswyl und der Propstei Interlaken ein Grundstück mit den Worten «ad montem qui nominatur Egere» (dt.: Bis zum Berg, der Eiger genannt wird) abgegrenzt. Ein halbes Jahrhundert später wird der Eiger in einem Belehnungsbrief erstmals in deutscher Sprache erwähnt: «under Eigere».
Für die Herkunft des Namens gibt es drei gängige Erklärungen. Eine erste ist der althochdeutsche Name Agiger oder Aiger, wie der erste Siedler unterhalb des Eigers geheissen haben soll. Der Berg über dessen Weiden wurde deshalb Aigers Geissberg oder auch nur Geissberg genannt. Hieraus entwickelten sich dann im Laufe der Zeit die direkten Vorgänger der heutigen Bezeichnung. Die Herkunft des Namens könnte auch von dem lateinischen Wort acer kommen, woraus sich im Französischen aigu entwickelte. Beide Worte haben die Bedeutung scharf beziehungsweise spitz – in Anlehnung an die Form des Eigers. Die dritte Erklärung stammt von der früher gebräuchlichen Schreibweise Heiger, was sich aus dem Dialektausdruck «dr hej Ger» entwickelt haben könnte (hej bedeutet hoch, Ger war ein germanischer Wurfspiess). Wiederum wäre hier die Form des Eigers ausschlaggebend für seine Bezeichnung.
Im Zusammenhang mit dem Eiger wird auch des Öfteren die Namensähnlichkeit mit dem Oger, einem menschenähnlichen Unhold, genannt. In Anlehnung an das Dreigestirn «Eiger–Mönch–Jungfrau» gibt es die Erzählung, der Unhold Eiger wolle seine lüsternen Pranken auf die Jungfrau legen, woran er aber vom fröhlichen Mönch gehindert werde. Zu dieser Geschichte sind in Grindelwald alte Karikaturen und neuere Postkarten zu kaufen.
Lage und Umgebung
Der Eiger erhebt sich direkt südwestlich von Grindelwald (Amtsbezirk Interlaken). Die bekannte Nordwand ist genaugenommen eine Nordwestwand. Neben dieser existiert in der berühmten «Eiger-Nordansicht» auch noch die Nordostwand. Sie bildet die Basis für den scharfen Mittellegigrat, der vom Unteren Grindelwaldgletscher zum Gipfel zieht. Auf der gegenüberliegenden Seite begrenzt der Westgrat die Nordwand. Ihm folgt die Westflanke, in welcher sich der Eigergletscher und der Klein Eiger befinden. An diesen schliessen sich der Südwestgrat und noch ein Stück östlicher der Südgrat an, der wiederum die Südostwand begrenzt, welche bis zum Mittellegigrat reicht. Südöstlich des Eigers liegt der Grindelwald-Fieschergletscher.
In der Umgebung des Eigers befinden sich einige Viertausender des Aarmassivs. Im Osten ist er umgeben von Schreckhorn (4078 m ü. M.) und Lauteraarhorn (4042 m ü. M.), im Südosten vom Grossen Fiescherhorn (4049 m ü. M.), und im Südwesten ist der Mönch (4107 m ü. M.) durch das Nördliche und Südliche Eigerjoch vom Eiger getrennt. Zusammen mit dem Mönch und der Jungfrau (4158 m ü. M.) bildet der Eiger das «Dreigestirn», bei dem der Eiger den nordöstlichen und die Jungfrau den südwestlichen Endpunkt bildet. Entgegen der steil abfallenden Nordseite des Berges befindet sich im Süden des Eigers die Hochfläche und Gletscherwelt der Berner Alpen. Seit Ende 2001 gehört der Eiger zum Gebiet des UNESCO-Weltnaturerbes Schweizer Alpen Jungfrau-Aletsch.
Geologie
Der Eiger ist ein Teil des helvetischen Systems, das im Grossraum um den Thunersee die Decken des Alpennordrandes bildet. In einer späten Phase der alpidischen Gebirgsfaltung wurden die helvetischen Kalk-Sedimente von ihrer kristallinen Basis abgeschürft und in Form einer Abscherungsdecke nach Nordwesten verschoben. Während des Faltungsprozesses in der Alpenentstehung brachen die Kalkbänke auf und Kluft- sowie Faltensysteme entstanden, die später mit ausgefälltem Calcit geschlossen wurden. Wichtigste Bestandteile der Sedimente sind der Schrattenkalk der Kreidezeit und der Malmkalk. Als Füll- und Schmiermaterial dienten Mergel und Tonschiefer.
Die klar erkennbare Faltung des Helvetikums mit seinen gebänderten, plattigen Kalkschichten zeigt sich auch am Eiger. Das Massiv des Eigers besteht komplett aus Kalk der helvetischen Zone und schliesst die Flyschschichten und die Molasse des Grindelwaldbeckens steil nach Süden hin ab. Weil der Talkessel von Grindelwald so reich gegliedert ist, finden hier die verschiedensten Tiere einen Lebensraum.[6] Südlich des Eigers schliesst sich das Aarmassiv mit seinem Innertkirchner-Lauterbrunner-Kristallin an. Teilweise hat sich dieses über die Sedimente des Eiger geschoben. Im Bereich des Mönchs treffen die Sedimente auf Altkristallin. Die typischen Gesteine des helvetischen Systems im Bereich des Eigers entstanden während des Jura, dem mittleren Zeitabschnitts des Mesozoikums. Der vorherrschende Kalk ist dabei mit verschiedenen Gesteinen durchmischt. Es zeigen sich Mergel-Kalke und -Schiefer, Ton-Schiefer, Eisenoolith sowie kalkige Sandsteine.
Die Kalkschichten des Eigers lagern auf Gneis und sind um 60–70° nach Norden geneigt. Geprägt wurde die heutige Form des Eigers durch die Eiszeiten. Während der Riss-Kaltzeit reichte die Vergletscherung bis an den Fuss der Nordwand. In der Würm-Kaltzeit war die Mächtigkeit des Eises um 200 Meter geringer. Durch die Bewegung der Gletscher wurde die Erdoberfläche umgestaltet. Vom Eis überlagerte Landschaften wurden abgeschliffen, wohingegen unbedeckte Bereiche durch Verwitterung und andere Formen der Erosion verändert wurden. Mit dem Rückzug des Eises änderten sich auch die Druckverhältnisse im Gestein, was sich durch Entlastungsbewegungen formgebend auswirkte. Prägend für den Eiger und seine Form war die allseitige Umlagerung von Eismassen, welche für einen recht gleichmässigen und markanten Abrieb aller Wände sorgte. Darüber hinaus war die Nordwand durch ihre Exposition den Abtragungsprozessen wie Frostverwitterung mehr ausgesetzt.
Felssturz
2006 ereignete sich am Eiger ein grosser Bergsturz, der öffentliches Interesse auf sich zog. An der Ostseite des Berges, unterhalb des Mittellegigrates, war durch Felsbewegungen ein rund 250 Meter langer Spalt entstanden, der eine Breite von etwa 7 Metern erreichte.Danach senkten sich die äusseren Teile mehrere Zentimeter pro Tag ab. Eine Ursache dieser Felsabspaltung könnte sowohl das massive Eindringen von Schmelzwasser in den Felsen gewesen sein, als auch eine Instabilität des Gesteins durch den Rückgang des Gletschers unterhalb des Felsabbruchs infolge der globalen Erwärmung. Am 13. Juli 2006 um 19:24 Uhr stürzten rund 500’000 Kubikmeter Felsbrocken auf den Unteren Grindelwaldgletscher. Über der Gemeinde Grindelwald schwebte stundenlang eine Staubwolke. Bereits am Nachmittag desselben Tages war die sogenannte «Madonna vom Eiger» zu Tal gestürzt. Hierbei handelte es sich um einen ungefähr 30 Meter hohen schlanken Felsturm mit rund 600 Kubikmeter Volumen.
Seit diesen Ereignissen wird die Felsnase (Gesamtvolumen: ungefähr eine Million Kubikmeter Gestein), aus der die Gesteinsmasse abbrach, von der Universität Lausanne beobachtet. Die Beobachtungen ergaben, dass sich die Nase von Juli 2007 bis August 2008 auf einer nach Osten geneigten Gleitfläche um 15 Meter talwärts bewegte. Zusätzlich kippte die Gesteinsmasse um zwei Grad nach Nordosten. Die Kluft zwischen Berg und Felsbrocken betrug im August 2008 50 Meter. Immer wieder brechen Gesteinsteile ab und stürzen zu Tal. Gebremst und stabilisiert wird die Masse vom Gletschereis, in das die Felsnase gleitet. Dies verhindert, dass die Nase als kompakte Masse zu Tal stürzt. So gilt es als wahrscheinlicher, dass der Gesteinsblock in sich selbst zusammenfallen wird.
(Wikipedia)
Der Mönch ist ein 4107 m ü. M. hoher Berg der Berner Alpen in der Schweiz. Zusammen mit dem Eiger und der Jungfrau bildet er eine markante, von weit her sichtbare Dreiergruppe, ein sogenanntes „Dreigestirn“.
Seine Erstbesteigung fand am 15. August 1857 durch Christian Almer, Christian Kaufmann, Ulrich Kaufmann und Sigismund Porges statt.
Südöstlich des Mönch liegt die Mönchsjochhütte, eine 3657 m ü. M. hoch gelegene Berghütte wenig oberhalb des oberen Mönchsjochs, das den Mönch vom Trugberg trennt.
Höhenbestimmung
1935 wurde die Höhe des Mönchs mit 4099 m ü. M. bestimmt. Diese Zahl ist noch heute häufig in der Literatur zu finden. 1993 ergaben jedoch Messungen per Luftfotogrammetrie eine Höhe von 4107 m ü. M.. Daraufhin wurde der Wert auf der Landeskarte der Schweiz korrigiert. Mit einer Messung per GPS ermittelte man 1997 eine Höhe von 4109,4 m ü. M.; und bei einer erneuten luftfotogrammetrischen Messung von 1999 resultierte sogar eine Höhe von 4110 m ü. M.. Diese neuen Messwerte wurden jedoch nicht auf den amtlichen Karten berücksichtigt. Für diese abweichenden Werte sind nicht nur Messfehler verantwortlich, sondern auch die Tatsache, dass der Mönch eine Kuppe aus Firn besitzt, welche in den letzten Jahren gewachsen ist.
Name
Am Fusse des Mönchs befinden sich Alpweiden, auf welchen früher Wallache, sogenannte „Münche“, gesömmert wurden. So hat man den über den Münchenalpen gelegenen Berg Münchenberg genannt und schliesslich nur noch Münch oder Mönch.
Routen
Südarm des Ostgrates (Normalroute)
Schwierigkeit: ZS-, mit II. UIAA-Grad Felskletterei
Zeitaufwand: 2½–3½ Std. von der Mönchsjochhütte, 3–4 Std. vom Jungfraujoch
Ausgangspunkt: Mönchsjochhütte (3657 m ü. M.)
Talort: Grindelwald (1034 m ü. M.)
Südwestgrat
Schwierigkeit: ZS-, mit III-. UIAA-Grad Felskletterei
Zeitaufwand: 3–4 Stunden
Ausgangspunkt: Jungfraujoch (3454 m ü. M.)
Talort: Grindelwald (1034 m ü. M.)
Nordostarm des Ostgrates
Schwierigkeit: ZS, mit III+. UIAA-Grad Felskletterei
Zeitaufwand: 4–5 Stunden
Ausgangspunkt: Mönchsjochhütte (3657 m ü. M.)
Talort: Grindelwald (1034 m ü. M.)
Nordostgrat
Schwierigkeit: ZS
Zeitaufwand: 4–5 Stunden
Ausgangspunkt: Mönchsjochhütte (3657 m ü. M.)
Talort: Grindelwald (1034 m ü. M.)
Nordwestbollwerk (Nollen)
Schwierigkeit: S
Zeitaufwand: 6–10 Stunden
Ausgangspunkt: Guggihütte (2791 m ü. M.)
Talort: Kleine Scheidegg (2061 m ü. M.)
(Wikipedia)
Die Jungfrau ist ein Berg in der Schweiz. Sie ist mit 4158 m ü. M. der dritthöchste Berg der Berner Alpen und bildet zusammen mit Eiger und Mönch eine markante Dreiergruppe, ein sogenanntes «Dreigestirn».
Am 13. Dezember 2001 wurde die Jungfrau zusammen mit südlich angrenzenden Gebieten als Schweizer Alpen Jungfrau-Aletsch in die Liste als UNESCO-Weltnaturerbe aufgenommen.
Lage und Umgebung
Über den Jungfrau-Gipfel verläuft die Grenze zwischen den Kantonen Bern und Wallis. Der Berg ist ausserordentlich vielgestaltig. Im Norden und Nordwesten, auf ihrer „weiblichen“ Schauseite (vgl. Foto) sind ihr Wengen-Jungfrau, Schneehorn, das Silberhorn, das Chly Silberhoren und der „Schwarzmönch“ vorgelagert sowie die zerrissenen Kühlauenen- und Giessengletscher. Im Westen erhebt sie sich fast eisfrei volle 3250 Meter über dem hinteren Lauterbrunnental. Es ist dies (nach dem Mont Blanc) der zweithöchste direkte Abhang in den Alpen. Ihre Südwand erhebt sich über dem versteckten Rottalgletscher und ihre Ostwand über den Firnen am Jungfraujoch.
Die Pläne, auf die Jungfrau eine Bergbahn zu bauen, wurden aufgrund finanzieller Schwierigkeiten nicht realisiert. Die ursprünglich bis unter den Gipfel geplante Jungfraubahn wurde bis 1912 mit Endstation Jungfraujoch fertiggestellt.
Auf dem untersten Absatz des Nordostgrats haben die PTT einen Funk-Umsetzer auf 3777 m ü. M. installiert.
Geologie
Die Jungfrau liegt im nördlichen Randbereich des Aarmassivs, eines der sogenannten Zentralmassive der Schweizer Alpen. Ihre höheren Lagen (Silberhorn, Wengen-Jungfrau und Hauptgipfel) sowie ihre Westflanke bis hinunter zum oberen Ende des Lauterbrunnentals sind weit überwiegend aus kristallinem Grundgebirge (prä-triassische Gneise, Glimmerschiefer u. ä.) der Helvetischen Zone aufgebaut. Die Nordwestflanke hingegen, der ganze «Vorbau» (Schwarzmönch, Rotbrett und Schneehorn) besteht aus sedimentärem, überwiegend jurassischem und kretazischem Deckgebirge des Helvetikums. Eine Besonderheit der Jungfrau ist, dass dort zwischen dem prinzipiell autochthonen Gipfel-Kristallin und dessen Deckschichten ein Überschiebungs-kontakt besteht; somit ist das Grundgebirge geringfügig auf sein Deckgebirge überschoben worden.
Name
Der Name Jungfrau dürfte sich von der Wengernalp am Fusse des Berges ableiten, die – nach den Besitzerinnen, den Nonnen vom Kloster Interlaken – früher Jungfrauenberg genannt wurde. Einer anderen Quelle zufolge leitet sich der Name vom Aussehen des Nordhanges des Berges ab, der aus der Ferne dem Schleier eines Mädchens ähneln soll.
Nach dem Berg ist die Jungfrau-Region benannt, die Tourismusorganisation der Orte Grindelwald, Wengen, Mürren und Lauterbrunnen, ausserdem die Jungfraubahn Holding AG, die neben der Jungfraubahn selbst auch die anderen Bergbahnen in der Region betreibt.
Besteigungsgeschichte
Bergsteiger auf dem Gipfel im Jahr 1878
Erstbesteiger waren Johann Rudolf Meyer und sein Bruder Hieronymus mit den Führern Joseph Bortis und Alois Volken, die am 3. August 1811 vom Lötschental her den Berg von Süden erklommen hatten. Sie folgten ungefähr der heutigen Normalroute. Der Volksmund taufte daraufhin die bis dahin unberührte Jungfrau «Madame Meyer».
1874 erfolgte die Winter-Erstbesteigung durch die Alpinistin Margaret Claudia Brevoort.
Die Jungfrau gilt, obwohl leicht erreichbar, als unfallträchtiger Berg. Bei einem der schwersten Unglücke stürzten am 12. Juli 2007 sechs Rekruten der Gebirgsspezialisten-Rekrutenschule Andermatt vom Rottalsattel 1000 Meter auf den darunterliegenden Rottalgletscher in den Tod, nachdem sie eine Lawine ausgelöst hatten. Das urteilende Militärgericht ging von einem falsch eingeschätzten, heimtückischen Lawinenrisiko aus und sprach in der Folge die verantwortlichen Bergführer frei.
Routen
Rottalsattel und Südostgrat (Normalroute)
Schwierigkeit: ZS-
Zeitaufwand: 4–5 Std. von der Mönchsjochhütte, 3½–4½ Std. vom Jungfraujoch
Ausgangspunkt: Mönchsjochhütte (3657 m)
Talort: Grindelwald (1034 m)
Innere Rottalgrat
Schwierigkeit: ZS
Zeitaufwand: 6–7 Stunden
Ausgangspunkt: Rottalhütte (2755 m)
Talort: Stechelberg (919 m)
Nordwestgrat oder „Rotbrettgrat“
Schwierigkeit: S
Zeitaufwand: 8–12 Stunden
Ausgangspunkt: Silberhornhütte (2663 m)
Talort: Stechelberg (919 m)
Nordostgrat
Schwierigkeit: S+, mit IV. UIAA-Grad Felskletterei
Zeitaufwand: 8–10 Stunden
Ausgangspunkt: Jungfraujoch (3454 m)
Talort: Grindelwald (1034 m)
Kunst
Erwähnt ist die Jungfrau unter anderem bei Friedrich Schiller, Wilhelm Tell, Vers 628 (1804). Lord Byrons Drama Manfred (1817) spielt am Fuss und auf dem Gipfel des Massivs. Ferdinand Hodler hat die Jungfrau mehrfach gemalt, darunter die perspektivisch verfremdete «Jungfrau über dem Nebelmeer». Alex Diggelmann gab 1958 eine Lithographienmappe unter dem Titel Die Jungfrau, mein Berg heraus. Stephan Bundi gestaltete 2005 eine Schweizer Gedenkmünze mit dem Bergmotiv.
Im Januar 2012 wurde zum 100-jährigen bestehen der Jungfraubahn eine übergrosse Schweizer Flagge vom Lichtkünstler Gerry Hofstetter an den Gipfel projiziert. Zeitweise waren neben dem Schweizer Kreuz auch ein Porträt des Zürcher Unternehmers Adolf Guyer-Zeller sowie ein Bild von einem der Züge zu sehen.
(Wikipedia)
Posted by Michael.Kemper on 2025-03-16 08:33:50
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