TheFinsteraarhorn (4,274 m (14,022 ft)) is amountain lying on the border between the cantons ofBern andValais. It is the highest mountain of theBernese Alps and themost prominent peak of Switzerland. The Finsteraarhorn is theninth-highest mountain andthird-most prominent peak in theAlps. In 2001 the wholemassif and surrounding glaciers were designated as part of theJungfrau-Aletsch World Heritage Site.

Finsteraarhorn
Aerial view from the east
Highest point
Elevation	4,274 m (14,022 ft)
Prominence	2279 m ↓WesternSimplon[1] Ranked 3rd in the Alps
Parent peak	Mont Blanc
Isolation	51.7 km →Nadelhorn[2]
Listing	Canton high point Ultra
Coordinates	46°32′14.9″N8°07′33.7″E / 46.537472°N 8.126028°E /46.537472; 8.126028
Geography
Finsteraarhorn Location in Switzerland
Location	Bern/Valais,Switzerland
Parent range	Bernese Alps
Topo map	Swisstopo 1249 Finsteraarhorn
Geology
Mountain type	Amphibolites
Climbing
First ascent	10 August 1829 by Jakob Leuthold and Johann Währen
Easiest route	rock/snow climb

Despite being the mostelevated,prominent andisolated mountain of both theBernese Alps and the canton ofBern, the Finsteraarhorn is less known and frequented than the nearbyJungfrau andEiger. This is due to its location in one of the most remote areas in theAlps, completely surrounded by un-inhabited glacial valleys.

To its west lies theFiescher Glacier, the second longest in the Alps, and to the east lie the GreatAar Glaciers. The smallerLower Grindelwald Glacier lies north of the massif. The Finsteraarhorn is surrounded by the summits of theSchreckhorn andLauteraarhorn to the north, theGross Fiescherhorn,Grünhorn andGross Wannenhorn to the west and theOberaarhorn to the east.

The summit lies on the border between the cantons ofValais andBern. Politically, it is split between the municipalities ofFieschertal (Valais) andGuttannen (Bern). The Valais–Bern border is also the watershed between theRhône (Mediterranean Sea) andRhine (North Sea) rivers. The Finsteraarhorn is the culminating point of the Rhinedrainage basin.

The Finsteraarhorn was dethroned byMonte Rosa as the highest summit ofSwitzerland when Valaisjoined theSwiss Confederation in 1815.

The Finsteraarhorn is the culminating point of theAarmassif, a geologic crystalline massif which crops out in the eastern Bernese Alps andUrner Alps. The massif belongs to theHelvetic zone and consists of rocks from the European continent, mainlygranites andgneisses. The summit itself is composed ofamphibolites.

Thetectonic uplift of the massif occurred late in the alpine orogeny, during theOligocene, 30 to 40 million years ago. The inelastic deformation of rocks led to manyfractures and formation of hydrothermalcrystals by the deposition of the saturated water flowing inside.

The first ascent was long a controversial matter. The first attempt was made on 16 August 1812 by theAargau merchantRudolph Meyer [de], guided by the locals Kaspar Huber, Arnold Abbühl, Joseph Bortes and Aloys Volker. Bortes and Volker, guidingMeyer's father [de] and uncle, had been the first to climb theJungfrau the previous year. They approached the mountain via the Oberaarjoch, Studer glacier, and south-east ridge, which is a more difficult and longer route than the current normal route over the north-west ridge. Meyer became exhausted and remained behind after reaching the ridge, perhaps near P. 3883 (Meyer's Peak).^[3] Huber kept him company, while the three other guides went on and purportedly reached the summit after three hours.^[3][4]

On 19 August 1828,Franz Joseph Hugi, a geologist fromSolothurn, made another attempt with seven local climbers.^[5] Among these was Arnold Abbühl, who told Hugi about his ascent 16 years earlier, but Hugi scoffingly dismissed his account, partly because Abbühl misidentified the peak in the beginning of their approach.^[4] The group reached a ca. 4,080-metre (13,390-foot) saddle (theHugisattel) on the north-west ridge, but had to retreat because of bad weather after Hugi and one of the guides (Arnold Dändler) nearly had fallen off the ridge.^[5][6]

The next year Hugi organized another expedition via the same route. While an attempt on the 3rd of August faltered, on 10 August 1829 two of his guides, Jakob Leuthold and Johann Währen were able to reach the summit, where they spent three hours building a 7-foot pyramid to anchor a flagpole. Hugi stayed behind somewhat above the saddle not daring to cross a steep slope, partly because he had twisted an ankle four weeks earlier. On the way back Hugi's ankle played up and Leuthold, Währen and Joseph Zemt took turns carrying him down the glacier. Hugi's account makes no mention of evidence of an earlier ascent.^[5]

In articles of 1881 and 1908, the mountaineers and leading historians of Alpine explorationGottlieb Studer^[4] andW.A.B. Coolidge,^[7] respectively, declared to be convinced that the Meyer expedition had been successful. However,John Percy Farrar concluded in 1913 in an article in theAlpine Journal that the guides in 1812 must have reached the 4,167 m high shoulder 200 m south of the true summit, which he considered nevertheless a feat half a century ahead of its time.^[3]

The fifth ascent took place on August 13, 1857. It was the first British ascent, made by John Frederick Hardy,William Mathews, Benjamin St John Attwood-Mathews, John Clough Williams-Ellis andEdward Shirley Kennedy, accompanied by the guides Auguste Simond and Jean Baptiste Croz from Chamonix, Johann Jaun the Elder from Meiringen, Aloys Bortis from Fiesch and the porter Alexander Guntern from Biel in Goms. They leftKonkordiaplatz at 2:30 pm, reaching the summit at exactly 11:53 pm. Before ascending the mountain, Mathews already mentioned his idea of a club for alpinists. On the summit of the Finsteraarhorn the climbers decided to found such an association, which would be named theAlpine Club.^[8]

In 1881Frederick Gardiner withCharles and Lawrence Pilkington made the first guideless ascent.^[9]

The most difficult route to the summit, the north-east face, was opened on 16 July 1904 by G. Hasler and his guide F. Amatter. The ascent marked the beginning of the épopée of the great north faces in the Bernese Alps. In fact the north-east face of the Finsteraarhorn was climbed only 11 times between 1904 and 1977. A third ascent was made on 3 September 1930 byMiriam O'Brien Underhill with guides A. and F. Rubi. She relates this dangerous ascent in her bookGive Me the Hills.^[10]

The normal route starts at theFinsteraarhorn Hut (3,046 m) and goes over the south-west flank of the mountain up to the Hugisattel, then follows the north-west rocky ridge to the summit.

• List of mountains of the Alps over 4000 metres

• "Finsteraarhorn".SummitPost.org.
• Finsteraarhorn at 4000er.de (in German)
• Computer generated summit panoramasNorthSouthIndex
• Summit Panoramic PhotographsWestEast
• "Finsteraarhorn" .The American Cyclopædia. 1879.