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The Jackson Travel Journal
Switzerland: the Aletsch Glacier
1990, 2008, 2009
From its beginnings in the Jungfrau mountain range to its end below Bettmeralp the Aletsch Glacier is one of the world's most impressive natural phenomena.
At Jungfraujoch the wide alpine panorama is awe-inspiring. But on a clear day, when the Matterhorn can be seen in the distance and the Jungfraujoch is visible at the head of the glacier, the view from Platta, with far fewer tourists, might just have the edge.
Jungfraujoch
Lauterbrunnen Valley from the train
September 1990
From the train
September 1990
3454m above sea level, the Jungfraujoch is reached by train on a line which is amazing in itself, passing through both the Eiger and Mönch mountains. It was built by Adolf Guyer-Zeller who made his money in textiles and railway investments and in 1894 was granted the concession to build the Jungfrau railway. A major engineering achievement is the 10km tunnel winding through Eiger and Mönch, close to the rock faces - so close, in fact, that trains stop to allow visitors to look out of windows in the rock. It took 16 years to drill the tunnel and the railway opened in 1912.
Jungfrau seen from the trainAugust 2009
Valley from the Eigernord Wand August 2009
Jungfraubahn train at EismeerAugust 2009
View from the SphinxSeptember 1990
August 2009 
Mönch from the Sphinx, August 2009 Both in 1990 and 2009 we took the train from Lauterbrunnen; in 1990 the cost was CHF101 each and in 2009 it had risen to CHF180 - though we have half price cards so it was much cheaper!
View from Eismeer September 1990 
Glacier field from Eismeer August 2009
RottalhornSeptember 1990
August 2009
From Lauterbrunnen the train winds up with fantastic views of the Lauterbrunnen Valley and stops at Wengen and one or two other halts before terminating at Kleine Scheidegg. Change here for the mountain train which climbs gradually through Eiger then Mönch to the Jungfraujoch.
The first stop is at Eigernord Wand, right on the notorious north face of the Eiger, The Eigernord Wand is a departure point for the rescue of climbers in difficulty.
The north face of the Eiger is a really imposing sight. Though the Eiger itself was first conquered in 1858, it was a further 80 years before the North Face was climbed. Mönch and Jungfrau were first climbed in 1857 and 1811 respectively.
The second stop at Eismeer overlooks the Lower Grindelwald Glacier and mountains including Schreckhorn.
The Jungfrau Railway provides an excellent guide to the railway, the Jungfraujoch and the mountains, in several languages. It has lots of interesting information on how the mountains were formed, the glaciers and climate, and the astronomical observatory at the Jungfraujoch.
The Jungfraujoch is actually a saddle of land between the two peaks of Jungfrau and Mönch. There are several places from which to look at the fantastic landscape, including the Plateau and the Sphinx, which is reached by a lift.
September 1990
August 2009
Cricket at 3500m
Andrew with Farokh Engineer
Broad out - Emburey in
I meet an Indian supporter - they
vastly outnumbered the Brits!
In 2009 we made a special trip to see a remarkable spectacle on the Jungfraujoch: a cricket match between India and England All Stars on the anniversary of Indian independence.
Kapil Dev
It was organised by Swiss and Jungfraubahnen as a publicity exercise and we only got to hear about it by an email from Swiss. It was very poorly publicised to the general public and this extended to the organisation at the site which was very much geared towards visiting dignitaries and press. As one Indian fan said, if it had been well-publicised 20-30,000 ex-pat Indians would have made the journey to watch! It was only a six over a side game, lasting about three quarters of an hour, but it was great fun and we were able to see some great players including Kapil Dev, Farokh Engineer, Chris Broad and John Emburey.... "and Chris Broad hits a massive six onto the glacier"... bizarre!
A just-discernable line of people venture out onto the Aletsch Glacier
Plateau, August 2009.
The Aletsch Region
Fiescheralp
Andrew at Eggishorn, the glacier far below.
Close-up of the glacier
On the walk to Platta
Approaching the glacier
At Platta - bliss
The Aletsch Glacier
Eggishorn
In August 2008 we took advantage of a Swiss Railways "Monats Hit" to spend a weekend further down the Aletsch Glacier. At 23.6km long it is the longest in Europe.
By train and cable car we reached Fiescheralp where we stayed at the Eggishorn (superb fondue!).
Another cable car took us to the top of the Eggishorn and our first view of the glacier from here - absolutely incredible. We were lucky it was a really clear day and we could see east up to the Jungfraujoch and way down the valley where the glacier becomes a river to the west.
On the walk to Platta
Close-up of the edge of the glacier with figure, lower right The Monats Hit also included lunch at the cafe at the top of the Eggishorn: we had rösti with pork and a small beer, not bad at all. After lunch some cloud was working its way up the mountain on the route we'd planned to walk so we went back to Fiesch and walked to Platta.
The walk to Platta is excellent with fantastic views all the way. Through a tunnel we had a beer at the small restaurant near the lake then walked on across the side of the mountain - the track is mostly good all the way - to an incredible viewpoint.
I can't recommend this highly enough. Far below we could see tiny dots of people at the deep edge of the glacier which dwarfs them. The views opening out over the glacier are stunning.
At Platta we sat for quite a while just enjoying the landscape - this immediately became our favourite view in Switzerland: the magnificent glacier stretching into the distance on both side, the Jungfraujoch to the right and far, far in the distance the Matterhorn on the left.
The Aletsch Glacier. Jungfraujoch extreme right, Matterhorn centre of the distant range left
Platta, August 2008
The Matterhorn in the distance
The Jungfraujoch in the distance
Bettmeralp and the end of the glacier
The following day we set off on a walk to Bettmersee on another beautiful clear and sunny day - the views to the Matterhorn were fantastic!
We then took the cable car up to Bettmerhorn where the views were so good we could see Mont Blanc.
The end of the Aletsch Glacier, below Bettmerhorn.
From here the end of the glacier can be seen to the west, where it becomes moraine and meltwater giving rise to the Massa River.
Here we did a little bit of the UNESCO trail from Bettmerhorn to Eggishorn but there were a lot of people with the same idea - a far cry from our peaceful and almost solitary walk yesterday.
The walk back down to Fiescheralp was steep and difficult in places, though the views, again, were impressive.
Such a stunningly beautiful area with some of the best mountain views anywhere - and the very best glacier view. I wonder what it all looks like in the depths of winter....
August 2009
On 31st August 2009 we flew to Italy on a beautifully clear day. We passed directly over the Bernese Oberland with stunning views of the Aletsch.
The Michelin guide to Switzerland and Lonely Planet guide to Switzerland were used.