First ascents

On account of its North Face, the Eiger (3970m) is the most famous peak of the Bernese Alps. Consisting in part of brittle limestone, it is a striking bulwark above Grindelwald’s green valley basin.

“The very ascent of the Finsteraarhorn from this side is absolutely impossible for human beings”, said Franz Josef Hugi, the natural scientist from Solothurn in 1830.

"The gradient decreased and we could finally unfasten ourselves, and Croz and I started a neck-and-neck race. At a quarter to two o’clock the world lay at our feet, and the Matterhorn was conquered. Hurrah! Not a single footstep of our Italian rivals could be seen.” This is what Edward Whymper wrote in his diary.

"At 6 o’clock in the evening we stand atop the longed-for, lofty peak, on soil that has never been tread upon by man, at 4052 meters above sea level, the highest point of the canton.”

English gentlemen found the Alpine Club in 1857 and climb peak after peak in the Alps. The "Golden Age of Alpinism" has dawned, and now the onrush by the British has to be countered.