My spouse likes to set up lofty goals, and would like us to hike this trail in late September. We'll be bringing hiking boots, of course, but I have reservations about the weather. It's an 8 mile loop trail with an elevation gain of 2,865 feet from Grindlewald. Anyone with experience in it? Since we're trying to stay with carry-on luggage, would it be best for us to stay lower in the valley?
Here's a link to the trail:
Question 2 first:
As for where to stay, I did not find it onerous to carry on to Murren once we got to Lauterbrunnen. If you can manage your luggage throughout the country, you can do that extra leg. I personally found it very worthwhile to stay up in the peaks, though Lauterbrunnen is pretty. I would decide based on the overall trip and all my plans while there.
The weather is something that always has to be evaluated the day before and morning of a hike. I was there in late October and had stellar weather (one day of rain), so I would not worry about weather now. You are likely to have great weather, but I always make backup plans (on our rainy day, we went to Schilthorn and watched the snow, strolled through Murren, and had a sauna).
As for the hike: Have you done a hike with that much elevation gain before? The distance and length would not give me pause, but that does. I'd do some similar hikes in preparation of possible--anything at least somewhat similar you can manage in your area?
There are so many hikes in the area, there is no reason to do something that will make you miserable.
Alltrails is a fantastic website and what I use to evaluate trails: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/switzerland/bern/eiger-trail-alpiglen-kleine-scheidegg?u=i
There are some handy tips on there from the review section. good luck!
The Eiger Northface trail goes between Alpiglen to Eigergletscher, above Kleine Scheidegg. You do not reach Kleine Scheidegg on the trail, but you can hike another trail down to KS from Eigergletscher.
Are you intending to start hiking in Grindelwald and do a loop? Your intentions are not clear. See this blog for a good description of the trail and your options for start and finish.
https://www.earthtrekkers.com/eiger-trail-hike-bernese-oberland-switzerland/
You can hike one-way if you want, either uphill or downhill. For the downhill hike, you can take the new gondola straight up to Eigergletscher from Grindelwald Grund, and hike down to Alpiglen from there. I did this hike 20 years ago, before the gondola, so we took the Jungfrau train up from KS. We reached KS by gondola from Grindelwald Grund to Männlichen, then walking the Panorama Trail (or whatever they call it now) from Männlichen to KS. That was a nice combination.
Or you could hike the Eiger Northface trail uphill by taking the train from Grindelwald Grund and starting there, hiking to Eigergletscher and returning to Grindelwald by gondola, or walking down to KS and returning to your base by train. We may do that this September, weather depending.
It’s all good.
Lola has expressed my thoughts. I will add one thing. We hiked this trail last September on the 18th. The previous week there was an early snowstorm. Because this hike is very shaded at the top area, the snow had turned to ice. We had boots and a pole and it was slick. We had to slow way down but made it down to Algipen where we took the train back up. People without good boots were really struggling (both coming up and down). You may want to have a back up hike just in case. (This was the only hike we had a problem out of the 4 we did. The Schyngie Platte to First hike had a staircase after the first hut, but it was ok with caution)
I recently read this article in the BBC news about renting clothing when traveling rather than bringing it all along
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230730-are-luggage-free-trips-the-future
That made me think you could probably just bring your carry on luggage and rent a jacket, hat and gloves if needed once you are here.
A list of places offering rentals of various kinds in Grindelwald can be found here (other locations will have options as well)
https://jungfrauregion.swiss/en/winter/see-and-do/skiing/rental/
This store, for example, offers jackets, etc. for rent
https://www.burisport.ch/en/ski-rental/
I have a pair of Yaktrax that I slip onto my boots when I hit an icy patch and they work extremely well. Lightweight and easy to throw in your backpack if needed.
Thank you all for your insightful replies. That last sentence made sense to me as I wrote it. But what I should have written : Because we'll only have carry-on luggage, and so will be packing without our normal gear for snowy/ice hiking conditions, should we plan on hiking lower in the valley?
However, several of you managed to make sense of my original submission. Thank you for the suggestions for rentals. This is something I'll definitely be checking out today.
My spouse and I've hiked about 150 miles of the A.T. within the Tennessee/North Carolina in all weather conditions. However, I dislike loose stones above the treeline path, and as a healthy senior, would prefer to be well prepared.
Your replies have helped me in achieving that goal.
I take it you don't use hiking pole(s)? TSA forbids them in carry-on luggage. As with clothing, you can rent sticks. We have a pair reserved for us at Alpiasport in Wengen for early September. Even though many Swiss prefer to use two, we are ok with one apiece.
