Felix Mendelssohn stayed there and so did Richard Wagner. Franz Liszt may have done so as well. What these men had in common, besides being famous 19th-century composers, is that they slept at the Berghaus Faulhorn, Switzerland's oldest mountain hotel. Today, the Faulhorn, at nearly 2,700 metres, is the high point, both literally and figuratively, of a walking tour around the village of Grindelwald in the Bernese Alps.
In the past, Grindelwald attracted alpinists bent on climbing the peaks, many of them more than 4,000 metres, that surround the village. Foremost of these was the fearsome north face of the Eiger, which defied all assaults until 1938. Today, tourists in running shoes flock to Grindelwald to take the Jungfraubahn, an expensive rack and pinion railway that tunnels its way through the Eiger until it reaches the col between the peaks of the Mönch and the Jungfrau, the so-called "top of Europe."
For those who lack the skills of an alpinist or the money of a well-heeled tourist, a four-day walking tour above and around Grindelwald offers a less well-known, but richly rewarding, alternative.
This 42-kilometre tour requires no climbing equipment or guides. The trail is well marked and safe. Simple accommodation is easily found in mountain inns such as the Faulhorn, thereby eliminating the need to carry tents or sleeping bags. Breakfast and dinner are provided at these inns and lunch can be obtained at huts, lift stations and small restaurants along the way.
Mendelssohn, Wagner and other 19th-century tourists were attracted to the Faulhorn by its unobstructed vista of the Jungfrau massif and particularly by the alpenglow caused when the rising or setting sun gives a reddish tinge to the snow-covered peaks across the valley.
While the sunsets remain, other things have changed since the Berghaus Faulhorn was opened in the early 1830s. Women are no longer carried up in sedan chairs by Bernese peasants; food and drink arrive twice a week by helicopter rather than by mule cart.
But meals are still eaten by candlelight, supplemented by propane lighting. And the bedrooms are just as Spartan, unheated and dimly lit. Washing water continues to be provided in big porcelain pitchers, but the bedpans of Wagner's time have fortunately given way to a modern toilet down the corridor. Sleep, then as now, comes easily between flannel sheets covered by massive eiderdowns. For those who must have contact with the outside world, a pay phone is available, but television, mercifully, is not.
Nineteenth-century tourists, at least those of the male variety, walked up to the Faulhorn from Grindelwald about 1,800 metres below. Today, the climb can be shortened by establishing a "base camp" in the adjacent Lauterbrunnen valley.
Lauterbrunnen not only has good train connections with the rest of Switzerland, it also offers a convenient place to leave a suitcase with unwanted street clothes, electric razors and hair dryers. An ancient clog railway leaves from the nearby town of Wilderswil every 40 minutes during the day and slowly makes its way up to Schyniye Platte. The modern-day hiker then can, after a cup of coffee and perhaps a visit to Schyniye Platte's Alpine garden, start off refreshed at 2,068 metres for the nine-kilometre walk to Faulhorn.
This is without a doubt one of the most glorious trails in all of the Swiss Alps. To the south is an ever-changing panorama of the great peaks of the Bernese Oberland. To the north, more than 1,500 metres below, are the waters of the Thuner and Brienzer lakes.
While the trail is relatively level until it reaches the cone of the Faulhorn, walking above the tree line at more than two kilometres in elevation can be tiring for a lowland hiker. Fortunately, the Weberhütte, located two-thirds along the way, offers rest and sustenance in the form of rich goulash and even some draft Bernese beer.
The second day of the tour provides more high Alpine hiking with different perspectives on the Jungfrau and its neighbours. The distance walked is slightly longer, but the 600 metres gained the day before is gradually lost by the time one reaches the Berghotel Grosse Scheidegg. Distractions along the way vary from the Bachalpsee, one of the most photographed lakes in the Alps, to a Swiss army helicopter disgorging a dozen troops near the Faulhorn for high-altitude manoeuvres (or perhaps a cup of coffee). The number of day hikers from Grindelwald increases as do the cows and goats on the less precipitous slopes. On sunny days, skittish marmots can be seen adjacent to what is now called the "Marmot Trail."
The Berghotel Grosse Scheidegg nestles beneath the imposing Wetterhorn in a col at the head of the Grindelwald valley. From the hotel, one can see most of the previous day's walk and all of what is in store for the next. It was once very similar to the berghaus on the Faulhorn. It, too, dates from the 19th century, and when I was first there in 1978, it also lacked electricity and running water.
In 1991, the commune renovated it, and in doing so exchanged bygone charm for modern comfort. The furniture in its five bedrooms looks as if it came from a Swiss Ikea, and there is even a hot water shower down the corridor. Unlike at the Faulhorn, where everyone eats whatever and whenever the cook wants, at Grosse Scheidegg the restaurant stays open late and offers a full range of good, simple food.
Grosse Scheidegg marks the dividing point between the two classic walks that make up the tour of Grindelwald. During the first two days, the walker traverses the "high route," always above 2,000 metres, taking in the changing vistas of the distant Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau. The next two are spent going in the opposite direction, almost always below 2,000 metres looking up at the same mountains from the "low route" below. The narrow and often rough bergweg pathsof the high route give way to less arduous and sometimes paved wanderwegs.
On each of the last two days, 12 kilometres are covered, with the town of Grindelwald offering the amenities of civilization at midday on the first, and the crowded mountain pass of Kleine Scheidegg offering more cafés, souvenir stands and hotels at midday on the second. The low route also provides alternative modes of transportation back to the Lauterbrunnen valley should the weather or sore feet make further walking uncomfortable.
For the more adventuresome, the low route offers two side trips well worth a little extra walking. Coming down from Grosse Scheidegg, trails branch off to the left giving an opportunity to visit the tips of the imposing Upper and Lower Grindelwald Glaciers. Indeed, Switzerland's first cable car, built well before the First World War and now in a museum, was designed not for skiers but to take visitors to the Upper Glacier. For those interested in these seas of dirty ice, a walk through the woods and up the narrow, cool canyons offers a refreshing change from the sun-drenched high route.
The second variation is a product of the 21st century. During the 1930s, European alpinists duelled one another to see who could be the first to climb the sheer north face of the Eiger, and many died in the process. More recently, Clint Eastwood survived, but did not conquer, the Nordwand in 1975's The Eiger Sanction. To acknowledge and perhaps to exploit the horror and the romance of the Eiger, the Swiss built a monument to all those who died in the trying, and just recently opened the Eiger Trail, a nine-kilometre bergweg that parallels the base of the north face and climbs steeply through scree fields made famous by the movie.
The starting point for the Eiger Trail and the nearby monument is the Berghaus des Alpes in Alpiglen. During the day, its sunny terrace swarms with tourists on their way between Grindelwald and Kleine Scheidegg, either on foot or by clog railway. After 5 p.m., only those doing the tour of Grindelwald or paying homage to the Eiger are left.
The half-dozen rooms of this 19th-century inn offer the Old World charm of the Faulhorn with the advantages of good reading lights. Its one shower does not require a coin to produce warm water. And its small dining room serves the best food found on the tour. The house specialty is kaseschnitte -- an artery-clogging mixture of six or seven cheeses flavoured with herbs and melted on thick slices of homemade bread.
As a result of the closing of the Eiger Trail, our final day was a pleasant 12-kilometre stroll once taken by Lord Byron and Goethe down to the town of Wengen. It was the easiest of the four walks, but equal to the others in panoramic beauty. The crowd of day hikers that we feared on this classic low route never materialized. Wengen turned out to be a logical place for a last glass of Swiss wine followed by rich apple strudel before catching the train for a short ride back to the Lauterbrunnen valley and a suitcase of clean clothes.
Pack your bags
GETTING THERE
Frequent trains from the Zurich airport take about three hours to reach Lauterbrunnen. A round-trip, second-class ticket costs $130.
WHEN TO GO
May and June are best for Alpine flowers, but at higher elevations snow is often encountered. July and August can be warm even above 2,000 metres, and thunderstorms must be avoided on the exposed high route. September and October are ideal.
WHERE TO STAY
Berghaus Faulhorn: 41 (33) 853 2713. Accommodation costs $75 a night with a supplement of $20 for a single person in a double room. The set evening meal costs $25.
Berghotel Grosse Scheidegg: 41 (33) 853 6716. $50 for a private room.
Berghaus des Alpes: 41 (33) 853 1130. $60 for a private room.
A comfortable hotel in Lauterbrunnen is the Silberhorn (41 (33) 856-2210), where a private room with shower, phone and TV costs $90.
RECOMMENDED READING
Switzerland's Mountain Inns by Marcia and Philip Lieberman. The Countryman Press, 1998.
The Bernese Alps by Kev Reynolds. Cicerone Press, 2000.
Available throughout the region, the free "Wandern" pamphlet provides a walking map of the area, brief trail descriptions and hiking times.