View Point: Aletschhorn

The Aletschhorn is with its 4.193 m the second highest mountain in the Bernese Alps. The ice on its three slopes nourish the Aletsch firn in the north, in the southwest the Oberaletsch glacier and in the southeast - the Mittelaletsch glacier. The first ascent succeeded the Englishman Francis F. Tuckett along with the mountain guides Johann Josef Benet, Peter Bohren and V. Tairraz on 18 June 1859. Point of view Geology the world is top down on the Aletschhorn. The summit part is much older, consisting of the crystalline basement (southern schist shell), approximately 1,2 to 2 billion years old), is situated on a younger rock base, the central Aare granite (about 300 million years old). It is with a surface of 550 km2 the largest contiguous granite complex in Switzerland and stretches over 100 km from the Joli valley to the Lower Aar glacier. The granite is massive, with largely the same grainy and trikes by its bright coloration. With the appropriate illumination the contrast to the dark crystalline basement (mainly gneisses) is easily recognizable on the eastern slope of the Aletschhorn.