Area: | Mürren Schilthorn |
Base: | 1580m |
Summit: | 2970m |
Skiable vertical: | 1400m |
Lifts: | 11 (2 draglifts) |
Total lift vert: | 3670m |
Slope orientation: | East-facing |
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Mürren sits high above the Lauterbrunnen valley and together with the neighbouring resorts of Grindelwald First and Männlichen / Kleine Scheidegg forms part of the Jungfrau region. The main attractions here are the height of the Schilthorn (almost 3000m) and the panoramas of the neighbouring mountains - the calendar-perfect trio of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, the Männlichen and Schynige Platte ridges, the Lauterbrunnen valley and the Breithorn and Gspaltenhorn.
As with Grindelwald and Wengen, the english-speaking contingent is noticeable, with many of the pubs and bars being run by Brits.
For a zoomable, scrollable map of the areas, see this online map using Openstreetmap or Opencyclemap.
There are two ways up to the Mürren area, firstly you can take the bus from Lauterbrunnen up the valley to Stechelberg and from there the pair of cable cars up to Mürren. This is a fast way to gain height, as it connects straight to the cable car up to Birg. An alternative is taking the cable car up from Lauterbrunnen (directly opposite the station) to Grütschalp and from there the train along the shoulder of the valley to Winteregg where you can join the chairlifts.
From Zurich by train, it takes around 3h15 to Lauterbrunnen with changes at Bern and Interlaken. The "Snow and Rail" ticket from Zurich (with a halbtax card) is currently a hefty CHF 92 for a single day or CHF 141 for 2 days (not including accommodation, of course). The two-day pass is valid for the other Jungfrau areas too, so it's possible to ski one day at Mürren and one day at Wengen / Männlichen, for example.
By car from Zurich, it's a long but scenic run through Luzern and over the Brünig pass to Interlaken, and then up the valley to Lauterbrunnen where you can park right by the train station. There is also parking at Stechelberg by the cable car station.
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The main artery of the resort is the chain of cable cars all the way from Stechelberg on the valley floor (at a mere 870m) through Gimmelwald, Mürren and Birg to reach the summit of Schilthorn at almost 3000m. Practically the resort falls into three sections - the upper section from the summit to Obere Hubel, the lower left section above Mürren, and the lower right section around Maulerhubel. Getting between these areas is quite possible but does require a bit of navigation.
From the very top of the Schilthorn, apart from the restaurant and spectacular views, there's only one run down and that's black. It starts off steep but flattens off on its way round so unless you want to explore the off-piste up there, the wait for the cable car might not be worth it. Most of the high action revolves around the easy runs by the Riggli, Muttleren and Kandahar chairlifts.
Above Mürren there's a mix of open reds and blues by the Gimmeln and Schiltgrat lifts, and some flatter twisty runs through the trees by the Allmendhubel cable train. Over by Maulerhubel there's a pair of old chairlifts with easy blues and most importantly a connection to the train at Winteregg.
Signposting is on the whole very good, but some of them can catch out the unwary - at the bottom of the Gimmeln lift the number 27 is poorly marked (it's worth avoiding), and when following signs for Mürren the runs split in two - left goes to the bottom of the cable train (to Allmendhubel) and right goes to the cable car (up to Birg).
There is off-piste here, but the good stuff is all high up around Birg. Watch out for suddenly-appearing cliffs though. As for jumps, there is a small half-pipe and a few launch ramps near the base of the Schiltgrat lift over on the left.
The number 6 "Bob run" is twisty and flat, but a necessary connection back to the cable car at Mürren. The blue number 20 is also fairly flat. Surprisingly the black from the summit of Schilthorn round to Birg also flattens out. And finally the number 12 from Birg to Obere Hubel is very flat, it's much better to continue down to take the Muttleren lift instead.
9 March 2008 - Good snow conditions high up, especially around the Riggli and Muttleren lifts. There's even quite a large amount of off-piste up there. Lower down is dodgy - avoid the number 27 to Gimmelwald!
The official website is at jungfrauwinter.ch, with a piste map including the neighbouring regions (Männlichen, Wengen and Grindelwald First) as well. Snow'n'Rail details are at railaway.ch. Snow conditions are at snow-forecast.com.
For hiking in this area, see the Alpine Pass Route which comes over the Kleine Scheidegg and round the Schilthorn to the Sefinenfurgge.
