PEAK PERFECTION
Grindelwald, Switzerland
WHERE TO FIND IT Encircled by the Bernese Alps, in the shadow of the north face of the Eiger
HOW TO GET THERE Fly to Zurich and travel by train or car to Grindelwald in about 2.5 hours
The resort
Legend has it that it was an Englishman who first skied in Grindelwald. Although, when Gerald Fox strapped skis to his feet and skied out through the front door of the Baer Hotel in 1891, locals questioned both his sanity and the future of this peculiar sport. Of course, they did come around to the idea, and Grindelwald, already a well-established mountaineering destination with peaks including the Eiger, Jungfrau and Mönch looming above it, became equally famous for skiing.
Blessed with eye-popping mountain vistas and a diverse ski area that spans three mountain ranges, two valleys and more than 200km of pistes, Grindelwald is rich with ski opportunity yet has historically been let down by slow, crowded lifts. Happily, that’s set to change this winter, as the first phase of the major ‘V-Bahn’ project swings into place. In its entirety, the V-Bahn will comprise a new gondola and railway station (opening this December) and a new tricable gondola and multipurpose terminal (opening December 2020), cutting travel times from Grindelwald to the
