Grindelwald and I – an attempt at friendship

When I was rummaging through my digital image archive the other day (to check if I only dreamed of all the snow last winter), I stumbled across some pictures of Grindelwald – taken last winter, on the umpteenth attempt to make friends with one of the most popular winter sports destinations in the Bernese Oberland.

Every year. I’ve been trying hard for years to understand what all the tourists find so great about Grindelwald. Of course, the bestseller is right in front of you: Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau: Top of Europe! Picture-book marketing, so to speak.

Well, I’m incredibly lucky that I was born with this view. That’s right, balcony view directly on the three majestic mountain siblings. From a distance, in my opinion, a thousand times more beautiful to look at than when you are standing directly in front of the mountain.

But now back to my attempt to like Grindelwald. Two ski resorts can be reached directly from Grindelwald. The First area, located on the southern slope, with its snow park and 30 km/h ski slope, and the Kleine Scheidegg-Männlichen ski area, which lies directly at the foot of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau. Once a year (this weekend!), the famous Lauberhorn downhill run also takes place here. Thanks to class ski camps and winter holidays, I now know both sides really well. Nevertheless, we haven’t really warmed up to each other yet.

I’ve been avoiding the first side since I once got a slap in the face on the slopes years ago from a guy I didn’t know (!). Yes, I’m resentful ;).

If you go to Grindelwald with your own skis and like to have more challenging slopes, then I recommend taking the cogwheel railway directly from Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg.

Since I always rented the ski equipment on site last year, we only took the cogwheel railway down to the Männlichen valley station. Beginner’s mistake number 1. In the ski sports shop, countless “tourists” standing around made it impossible to rent skis efficiently (in no other ski resort does there have so many tourists who are unfamiliar with skiing, who still want to try it). After what felt like an eternity (about an hour later) we finally had everything together and were able to queue at the gondola. Beginner’s mistake number 2. At the gondola lift, you should only queue early in the morning on nice weekend days. The old gondola lift can hardly cope with the crowds, which leads to extremely long waiting times. Projects for a new gondola lift have been around for some time, but the whole planning process has its pitfalls. Our patience was practically at an end when we were finally able to get a seat in the mini gondola. The 30-minute gondola ride is pure nostalgia.

When we finally reached the Männlichen mountain station around noon, we still had to traverse over to the Kleine Scheidegg. This is one of the reasons why I can’t make friends with the Kleine Scheidegg – Männlichen ski area. The distances should not be underestimated.

When I finally stand on the Lauberhorn above Kleine Scheidegg in the afternoon and have the three mountain siblings in front of me, I can understand to some extent why the people here go into raptures.

Also great is a rather newer lift below the Kleine Scheidegg called “Eigernordwand”. The name says it all. From the lift you can practically caress the rugged rock masses of the Eiger north face and from the top you can enjoy a beautiful view of the Lauberhorn opposite.

By the way, last winter there was so much snow that even the valley run with a view of Grindelwald, which I hated, was extremely fun to drive.

Thanks to the best snow and weather conditions, I don’t have such bad memories of my last year’s trip to Grindelwald. I would even dare to say that we – Grindelwald and I – have become closer. Who knows, maybe we’ll see each other again in the summer…