Schreckhorn

The Schreckhorn (4,078 m) is a very tall mountain in the Bernese Alps. It is special because it is the highest peak that is completely inside the canton of Bern.

This mountain is also important because it is the northernmost Alpine four-thousander in the world. That means it is the farthest north any mountain in the Alps reaches that is more than 4,000 metres tall. It is also the northernmost summit in all of Europe that rises above this height.

Geography

The Schreckhorn is a mountain about 10 kilometers southeast of Grindelwald. It is between the Upper and Lower Grindelwald Glacier, in a region with icy valleys and large glaciers like the Aar Glaciers and the Fiescher Glacier. Nearby is another tall mountain called the Lauteraarhorn, almost as high as the Schreckhorn. Farther south is the Finsteraarhorn, the tallest peak in the Bernese Alps.

Geologically, the Schreckhorn belongs to the Aarmassif.

Climbing history

The first time people reached the top of the Schreckhorn was on August 16, 1861. Leslie Stephen, Ulrich Kaufmann, Christian Michel, and Peter Michel climbed it. They went up through the upper Schreck Couloir to the Schrecksattel and then up the south-east ridge. This was the usual way to climb the mountain for about fifty years, but it is rarely used today.

Before this, others had tried to climb the Schreckhorn. One famous attempt was by a Swiss naturalist named Joseph Hugi in 1828, and another by a Swiss geologist named Pierre Jean Édouard Desor in 1842. Desor and his group tried to be the first to put a flag on the Schreckhorn but ended up climbing a different mountain by mistake.

In 1902, John Wicks, Edward Branby, and Claude Wilson climbed the mountain using the south-west ridge, which is now the most common route. In 1883, John Stafford Anderson and George Percival Baker climbed the north-west ridge with guides Ulrich Almer and Alois Pollinger.

The old Strahlegg Hut was destroyed by a snow slide, and now there is the Schreckhorn Hut at 2,520 meters. The Schreckhorn can also be reached from the Gleckstein Hut at 2,317 meters and the Lauteraar Hut at 2,392 meters.