First – Grindelwald
Skiing in the Eiger's shadow, between the world's great railways.
Difficulty mix
On the mountain
- 2 snowparks / fun zones
Bonvo Score breakdown
Computed from mapped terrain data — no editorial opinion, no pay-to-rank. How the score works
Skiing Grindelwald – Wengen, told properly
Nowhere else do you ski underneath a wall like this. The Eiger's mile-high North Face — mountaineering's most storied precipice — looms directly over the pistes of Kleine Scheidegg, with the Mönch and Jungfrau completing the skyline. Below, two villages split the honours: bustling Grindelwald in its green valley, and car-free Wengen, perched on a sunlit shelf and reachable only by the rack railway that has climbed from Lauterbrunnen since 1893.
Racing history saturates the place. The Lauberhorn downhill above Wengen, first run in 1930, is the longest race on the World Cup calendar — nearly four and a half kilometres from the start hut beneath the Eiger to the finish, hitting the tour's highest speeds along the way. Mortals can ski the course all winter and stop where racers hit 140 km/h.
Trains define the experience: the Wengernalpbahn shuttles skiers between sectors, the Eiger Express tricable gondola (2020) rockets from Grindelwald to the Eigergletscher in 15 minutes, and from there the railway bores through the Eiger itself to the Jungfraujoch at 3,454 m — the 'Top of Europe'. It is, unapologetically, the most scenic ski region on the planet.
Signature runs
Lauberhorn course
Ski the world's longest World Cup downhill — through the Hundschopf jump's rock notch and under the railway at Wasserstation.
Eigergletscher to Grindelwald Grund
A colossal descent from the foot of the Eiger to the valley floor — nearly 1,400 vertical metres of scenery overload.
Black Rock Run (First)
Grindelwald First's sunny side signature, with the full Eiger–Mönch–Jungfrau panorama across the valley.
Local tips
- Base in Wengen for atmosphere (no cars, total quiet), Grindelwald for lift access via the Eiger Express.
- January's Lauberhorn race weekend is Switzerland's biggest sporting party — book a year out or day-trip by train.
- The Jungfraujoch railway is expensive but singular; go on a bluebird rest day, not a ski day.
- First's sector doubles as the family/fun side — sledging runs and the cliff-walk at the top station.
Good to know
- The Lauberhorn downhill is the longest on the World Cup circuit at about 4.5 km, with speeds up to 160 km/h.
- Wengen has been car-free since its founding as a resort — everything arrives by rack railway.
- The Jungfraujoch station at 3,454 m, reached by a tunnel through the Eiger, is Europe's highest railway stop, opened in 1912.
Slope-by-slope analysis
Every run measured from elevation-aware map geometry: true length, vertical drop, average gradient and a 0–10 slope score that rewards long, sustained descents.
| Run | Difficulty | Length | Vertical | Avg grade | Slope score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stepfi | Intermediate | 4.9 km | 690 m | 14.2% | 7.4 |
| 22 Grindel | Intermediate | 4.3 km | 831 m | 19.1% | 7.8 |
| 20 Bort-Chapf | Expert | 2.9 km | 497 m | 17% | 5.3 |
| 21 Bort-Muhlebach | Easy | 2.6 km | 459 m | 17.5% | 5.0 |
| 8 Distelboden | Easy | 2.0 km | 286 m | 14.5% | 3.6 |
| 1 Oberjoch blau | Easy | 1.9 km | 340 m | 18.2% | 4.0 |
| 10 Gemsberg | Easy | 1.8 km | 299 m | 16.9% | 3.7 |
| 9 Furggi | Intermediate | 1.7 km | 302 m | 17.6% | 3.7 |
| 1 Oberjoch - rot | Intermediate | 1.6 km | 340 m | 20.8% | 4.0 |
| 11 Hambiel | Easy | 1.4 km | 270 m | 19.2% | 3.4 |
| 5 Bort Direkt | Advanced | 1.1 km | 341 m | 29.7% | 4.2 |
| 3 Berme | Easy | 1.1 km | 185 m | 16.6% | 2.7 |
| 5 Bort Direct | Advanced | 1.0 km | 259 m | 25.8% | 3.5 |
| 12 Innerbärgel | Intermediate | 900 m | 150 m | 16.7% | 2.4 |
| 14 Gemsberg west | Advanced | 824 m | 139 m | 16.9% | 2.3 |
| 13 Bärgelegg | Easy | 804 m | 167 m | 20.8% | 2.7 |
| Skicross piste | Advanced | 742 m | 132 m | 17.8% | 2.3 |
| 21 Stählisboden-Kirche | Easy | 644 m | 59 m | 9.2% | 1.3 |
| 53 | Easy | 567 m | 46 m | 8.1% | 1.2 |
| 16 Faxhubel west | Advanced | 527 m | 177 m | 33.6% | 3.3 |
| Mühlebach Trail, 21 Stählisboden-Kirche | Easy | 455 m | 27 m | 5.9% | 0.9 |
| 13 Bärgelegg | Easy | 337 m | 76 m | 22.6% | 2.1 |
| 21 Stählisboden-Kirche | Easy | 325 m | 40 m | 12.3% | 1.2 |
| 9 Furggi | Intermediate | 271 m | 39 m | 14.4% | 1.3 |
| 6 Schreckfeld-Egg | Advanced | 257 m | 21 m | 8.2% | 0.8 |
| Bodmi | Beginner | 255 m | 36 m | 14.1% | 1.3 |
| 11 Hambiel | Easy | 252 m | 53 m | 21% | 1.8 |
| 9 Furggi | Intermediate | 246 m | 42 m | 17.1% | 1.5 |
| Schreckfeld-Bort, 55 | Advanced | 237 m | 20 m | 8.4% | 0.8 |
| Mühlebach Trail | Easy | 166 m | 11 m | 6.6% | 0.6 |
| First-Schreckfeld, Schreckfeld-Bort | Advanced | 154 m | 6 m | 3.9% | 0.4 |
| Halfpipe | Unrated | 144 m | 36 m | 24.9% | 1.9 |
| First-Schreckfeld, Schreckfeld-Bort | Advanced | 46 m | 2 m | — | 0.0 |
| First-Schreckfeld, Schreckfeld-Bort | Easy | 42 m | 4 m | — | 0.0 |
| Schreckfeld-Bort | Advanced | 13 m | — | — | 0.0 |
+ 8 more mapped runs and connectors — all of them in the free 3D map in the Bonvo Ski app.
Lift network
11 mapped lifts, moving up to 10,600 skiers per hour.
| Lift | Type | Capacity/h | Ride time | Length | Vertical |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schilt(bubble) | Chairlift | 2,400 | 5 min | 1.6 km | 302 m |
| Grindel(bubble) | Chairlift | 2,000 | 4 min | 1.0 km | 285 m |
| Oberjoch | Chairlift | 1,400 | 5 min | 1.5 km | 343 m |
| Firstbahn | Gondola | 1,200 | 21 min | 4.2 km | 891 m |
| Hohwald | T-bar | 1,200 | — | 1.1 km | 270 m |
| Bärgelegg | T-bar | 1,200 | — | 924 m | 215 m |
| Firstbahn | Gondola | 1,200 | 3 min | 887 m | 215 m |
| Pfingsteggbahn | Cable car | — | — | 958 m | 348 m |
| Bodmi 2 | T-bar | — | — | 239 m | 37 m |
| Bodmi 1 | T-bar | — | — | 238 m | 37 m |
First – Grindelwald — quick answers
How many ski runs does First – Grindelwald have?
First – Grindelwald has 43 mapped downhill runs totalling about 38.8 km of pistes, with the longest single run measuring 4.9 km.
What is the vertical drop at First – Grindelwald?
The mapped skiable terrain spans 1468 m of vertical, from 1036 m at the base to 2504 m at the top.
How many lifts does First – Grindelwald have?
First – Grindelwald operates 11 mapped lifts moving up to 10,600 skiers per hour.
Ski First – Grindelwald with the map in your pocket
Every run and lift on this page, rendered in interactive 3D — and it keeps working in airplane mode at the top of the mountain. Free on the App Store.
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