Themed trail Great Aletsch Glacier through the ages

In the footsteps of the Great Aletsch Glacier – a journey through the Ice Age

Discover the fascinating history of the Great Aletsch Glacier and embark on an exciting journey through time spanning millennia. On this unique themed trail, you’ll learn how this mighty ice giant has changed since the last Ice Age and what traces it has left on the landscape to this day.

The idea for this themed trail came from Martin Nellen, who has been working as a mountain guide for over 40 years. It had long been his wish to bring the eventful history of the Great Aletsch Glacier to life for visitors. Together with the geographer and glaciologist Dr Hanspeter Holzhauser, this vision became a reality. Drawing on his many years of research, Holzhauser developed the concept and designed the texts, images and graphics for the four information boards.

Following in the footsteps of the ice giant

Your adventure begins at Riederalp Mitte. From there, you’ll walk eastwards to the valley station of the Moosfluh Glacier Cable Car. The cable car takes you comfortably to the Moosfluh View Point, where a breathtaking view of the Great Aletsch Glacier awaits you.

From here, the themed trail leads you eastwards via Biel down to the Chatzulechern. Along the way, four fascinating information panels invite you to delve into the past of the Alps’ largest glacier. Discover how massive ice masses shaped the landscape, how the glacier retreated over millennia, and the methods researchers use to unravel its history.

Four stops – thousands of years of glacier history

1.  Moosfluh (2,333 m above sea level) – When ice dominated the landscape: find out the immense size the Great Aletsch Glacier reached during the last Ice Age.
2. Biel (2,280 m above sea level) – The end of the Ice Age: travel back some 11,700 years and discover the traces the glacier left behind at the end of the last Ice Age. An impressive moraine wall bears witness to this.
3. Young moraine (2,130 m above sea level) – The glacier around 1860: See how far the Great Aletsch Glacier extended as recently as around 160 years ago and how much it has changed since then.
4. Above the glacier (2,000 m above sea level) – Unravelling the secrets of the ice: Around 70 metres above the glacier, you’ll learn how researchers use traces in nature to reconstruct the eventful history of this ice giant.

An impressive hike that combines a nature experience with glacier knowledge – and shows you the Great Aletsch Glacier from a completely new perspective.