The Grünhorn (or ''Gross Grünhorn'') (4,043 m) is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

in the

Bernese Alps The Bernese Alps are a mountain range of the Alps located in western Switzerland. Although the name suggests that they are located in the Berner Oberland region of the canton of Bern, portions of the Bernese Alps are in the adjacent cantons of Va ...

range of the

Swiss Alps The Alps, Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps, represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss Plateau and the Swiss portion of the Jura Mountains, one of its three main Physica ...

. It is located on the ridge between the two largest glaciers of the Alps: the

Aletsch Glacier The Aletsch Glacier (, ) or Great Aletsch Glacier () is the largest glacier in the Alps. It has a length of about (2014), a volume of (2011), and covers about (2011) in the eastern Bernese Alps in the Switzerland, Swiss canton of Valais. The A ...

to the west and the

Fiescher Glacier The Fiescher Glacier (''Fieschergletscher'' in German) is a valley glacier on the south side of the Bernese Alps in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. in length, it is the second longest glacier in the Alps. The glacier covers an area of . The ...

to the east. To the south lies the

Gross Wannenhorn The Grosses Wannenhorn is a 3906-metre mountain in the Bernese Alps, in the Swiss canton of Valais near the village of Fiesch. It is part of the Walliser Fiescherhörner. The mountain separates the Aletsch Glacier to the west from the Fiescher ...

and, to the north, the

Gross Fiescherhorn Grosses Fiescherhorn is a mountain peak of the Bernese Alps, located on the border between the cantons of Bern and Valais, halfway between the Mönch and the Finsteraarhorn. At above sea level, its summit culminates over the whole Fiescherhorn ...

. The starting point for the normal route via the ''Grünegghorn'' and the south-west ridge is the

Konkordiahütte The Konkordia Hut (German: ''Konkordiahütte'') is a mountain hut of the Swiss Alpine Club, located north of Fieschertal in the canton of Valais. The hut lies above Konkordiaplatz, the point of convergence of several glaciers in the great Aletsch ...

at , which can be reached from

Fiesch Fiesch is a municipality in the district of Goms in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. Nearby Fiescheralp is administered by Fiesch and is accessible by the Eggishorn lift. It has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site for its view o ...

(1,049 m; 3,442 ft).

Climbing history

The

first ascent In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in climbing guidebook, guide books), is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-century mountaineers a ...

was made on August 7, 1865 by the Bernese mineralogist Edmund von Fellenberg with guides Peter Michel, Peter Egger and Peter Inäbnit. They climbed the mountain from the west side, starting at the ''Ewigschneefeld'', a tributary glacier of the Aletsch Glacier. They successfully reached the summit despite very bad weather conditions. The same climbers had made an attempt on the peak in the previous year, but they could only reach a lower prominence of the Grünegghorn.Helmut Dumler,Willi P. Burkhardt, ''Les 4000 des Alpes'', The second ascent was made by W. A. B. Coolidge, with guides Christian and Rudolf Almer (sons of

Christian Almer 220px, Christian Almer Christian Almer (29 March 1826 – 17 May 1898) was a Swiss mountain guide and the first ascensionist of many prominent mountains in the western Alps during the golden and silver ages of alpinism. Almer was born and di ...

).''The High Mountains of the Alps'', p. 49 A route on the north-east ridge was opened on 26 August 1913 by D. von Bethmann-Hollweg and O. Supersaxo. In the summer of 1950, G. Van der Leck climbed the west face. The western pillar was finally climbed by C. Blum and U. Frei on 27 August 1967. Famed Swiss mountaineer

Erhard Loretan Erhard Loretan (28 April 1959 – 28 April 2011) was a Swiss mountain climber. He was the third man to climb all fourteen peaks over 8,000 meters, and the second to do so without supplementary oxygen. Early life Loretan was born in Bulle in th ...

died after a fall on the Grünhorn on 28 April 2011.

References

External links

*
Grünhorn on Hikr

Gross Grünhorn (Die Viertausender der Alpen) – in German
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grunhorn Bernese Alps Alpine four-thousanders Mountains of the Alps Mountains of Switzerland Mountains of Valais Four-thousanders of Switzerland

Climbing history

See also

References

External links