46.45° N · 8.08° E · Aletsch Glacier
Looking at the glacier from above is free; walking on it requires a guide. The Bergsteigerzentrum Aletsch in Fiesch sets off from Fiescheralp, reaches the ice by Lake Märjelen and spends about two hours walking on it in crampons, roped up, among crevasses and meltwater rivers. It is about six hours in all.
Part of Aletsch GlacierAlps
Who offers it
Independent companies: you book with them, on their terms. Prices are as they publish them and may change.
Step by step
You meet the guide at the Bergsteigerzentrum Aletsch, in the valley station of the gondola, and go up to Fiescheralp, at 2,222 m.
You walk through the Tälligrat tunnel to the Gletscherstube at Lake Märjelen, at 2,350 m. There the guide hands out the harness and crampons.
Roped up, you cross the glacier between crevasses and meltwater channels, with a stop to eat on a medial moraine.
Back to the Gletscherstube, on foot to Fiescheralp and down by gondola. Around 16:00 you are in Fiesch.
The Great Aletsch Glacier is more than 20 km long and is the longest in the Alps. This is the way to touch it without high-mountain experience: the guide chooses the route, ties the rope and explains how the ice moves and retreats.
The Aletschgletscher Rundtour is a day excursion run by the Bergsteigerzentrum Aletsch, the mountain guides' centre in Fiesch. It is not a climb: it is a long walk with a stretch of about two hours on the ice, roped up, with a harness and crampons lent by the centre. The guide first gives a talk on how to move on the glacier and, along the way, explains its history and its retreat. Halfway round you eat on one of the great medial moraines, the stripes of stone the glacier carries down the middle.
The approach is part of the charm: you go up to Fiescheralp, cross the Tälligrat tunnel and pass Lake Märjelen before setting foot on the ice.
In 2027 it runs on Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 5 to 27 June and from 30 August to 24 October, and every day from 28 June to 29 August. A minimum of six people is needed for it to go ahead. In July and August many dates fill up: the website marks those that are full.
It costs CHF 99 per adult and CHF 89 per child aged 10 to 16, with harness and crampons included. It does not include the cable car from Fiesch to Fiescheralp, which you pay for separately. You book and pay on the centre's website, or at its office in Fiesch, open every day.
If you want to do it without an early start, the centre has a two-day version, Erlebnis Aletschgletscher: a night in a hotel in Fiescheralp with half board, an aperitif and a picnic, and the crossing the next day, for CHF 239, also without the cable car.
No mountain experience is needed, but you do need to be fit enough to walk about six hours and place your feet with confidence. The centre considers it technically straightforward, but insists that it is an alpine excursion. The minimum age is 10.
For children of 8 or 9 there is another option: the Bergsteigerschule Riederalp runs the UNESCO Glacier Tour from the Moosfluh, with the Aletsch Arena as the booking point. It accepts children from age 8, leaves at 9:00 from the Moosfluh valley station in Riederalp and costs CHF 90 per adult and CHF 70 per child aged 8 to 16, without the gondola. It runs on Wednesdays from early July to early October, and also on Tuesdays and Thursdays from mid-July to mid-August, with a minimum of eight people and booking until 17:00 the day before.
Fiesch has a Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn station, on the line from Brig towards the Goms valley. The meeting point is the guides' centre itself, in the Volken shop and café, inside the valley station of the Fiesch – Fiescheralp gondola, at Fieschertalstrasse 1. If you drive, park there. Sleeping the night before in Fiesch or Fiescheralp saves you the early start.
The glacier is done in good weather. If the forecast is bad, the centre may change or cancel the departure: leave a contact phone number when you book and allow another day's margin in your trip. Take out accident and cancellation insurance; the centre leaves this to the participant.
Who it's for
What to bring
Map
What you have around the starting point.
More to do
Itineraries
Tips
From late June to late August it runs every day, but the groups are small and many dates fill up.
In June, September and October it only runs on Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
The Bergsteigerschule Riederalp departure accepts children from age 8; the Fiesch one, from 10.
Questions
Not in high mountains, but you do need to be used to walking six hours with ascent and descent and placing your feet confidently.
CHF 99 per adult and CHF 89 per child aged 10 to 16 on the Bergsteigerzentrum Aletsch's Aletschgletscher Rundtour, without the cable car.
From 10 on the Fiesch departures and from 8 on the Riederalp ones.
No: the ice has crevasses and is only walked on with a guide and equipment. Independently you see it from the viewpoints of the Eggishorn, the Bettmerhorn and the Moosfluh.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/switzerland/valais/aletsch-glacier/things-to-do/aletsch-glacier-tour
