Schreckhorn
German for 'peak of terror' — the only major Alpine summit whose name is overtly fearful. Schreck means 'fright' or 'terror', and Horn is the standard term for a sharp peak; the name is recorded as early as the 17th century, applied originally to all the high peaks visible from Grindelwald.
Northernmost 4000-metre peak in the Alps and the highest summit lying wholly in canton Bern. A steep, predominantly rock mountain reached from the Schreckhorn Hut above Grindelwald.
The 'Peak of Terror' was climbed on 16 August 1861 by Leslie Stephen — Cambridge don, editor of the Cornhill Magazine, future father of Virginia Woolf, and one of the founding presidents of the Alpine Club. Stephen's essay on the climb in 'The Playground of Europe' is one of the most celebrated pieces of 19th-century mountaineering literature. The Schreckhorn was the last of the great Bernese peaks to fall, and its compact granite south-west ridge is still considered one of the finest 4000-metre rock climbs at its grade.
Summit · huts that serve as bases for routes on this peak
- Schreckhornhütte2,529 m