The Eiger Trail – Below The Legendary North Face

The Eiger Trail is your chance to get up close and personal with one of the most legendary mountains in Switzerland! The Eiger North face is one of the most notorious mountains in all the Alps, not only because of the difficulty of the climb, but also because of the number of deaths. It is an insanely difficult, exposed, long and often weather inflicted alpine climbing route!

A Climber on the Eiger North Face

There have been over 60 deaths since climbing the Eiger North face began, back in 1930s. There are still injuries, rescues and sometimes deaths, even to this day. But on a more positive note, there are also world records set, with the famous Swiss alpinist Ueli Steck climbing the North Face solo in a record shattering in  2015 – it took him only 2 hours, 22 minutes and 50 seconds. Most other climbers take days!

The Eiger Trail, Eiger Glacier & The Eiger North Face

The Eiger Trail takes you from the Eiger Glacier on the western side of the iconic mountain, along the base of the North Face to where the climbers begin their ascent. You can see the start in the bottom left of the image below (the grass below the glacier).

It’s fun to do a little research before you start this Grindelwald hike so you can see the route they take from their point of view at the bottom.

Eiger Glacier (left) with Jungfrau (middle) and Monch

The first part of the hike drops around 100m through rocky terrain below the Eiger Glacier train station. Alternatively, you can also start the hike at Kleine Scheidegg and cut across to join the hike not long after it starts. The only downside of this route is that you miss out on seeing the Eiger Glacier.

Eiger Trail below the North Face

The Eiger Trail – Upper Part

As the hike continues along the bottom of the Eiger North Face you also get great views down into the Grindelwald valley below. Gradually, you will descend over 700m and enter the forest around Alpiglen, the end point of the the Eiger Trail itself.