Jungfraujoch: 30 Name Plates and a Bottle of Red a Day

In 2012 the 30 Italian workers who died building the Jungfrau Railway each received a name plate on the tunnel wall, in the corridor every visitor walks from the station to the Ice Palace. The railway says its site management gave each worker a bottle of red wine a day. Since 2022 a Valais Humagne Blanche has matured in oak barrels in that ice, and the summit's à la carte restaurant lists it. Read the names, walk the ice, then raise a Valais glass to them at 3,454 m.

What to do there

4 things to do

1. 1 Read the 30 Name Plates on the Tunnel Wall History · Free

   The workers who died building the line, named one by one.

   Building began on 27 July 1896; the historian Peter Krebs counts 30 lives lost, most of them in dynamite explosions. In 2012 each of the 30 Italian workers who died received a name plate on the tunnel wall.

   Where: the Alpine Sensation, the 250 m corridor between the Sphinx hall and the Ice Palace, not the old Eigerwand stop, closed in 2016. From Grindelwald Terminal the Eiger Express and the Jungfrau Railway take 45 minutes; returns from CHF 129.60.

   What: walk slowly and read the names.

   Log Memory
2. 2 Walk the Ice Where the Reine des Glaces Matures Adventure · Free

   Minus three degrees, and a Valais white ageing somewhere in it.

   Mountain guides cut the Ice Palace into the Jungfraufirn in the 1930s, with pick and saw; it stays at about minus three degrees. Since March 2022 five oak barrels of Humagne Blanche, "3454 – Reine des Glaces", from the Kuonen cellar of Salgesch have matured in an ice vault here. Patrick Revey, the cellar's director, says the near-freezing cold and 90 per cent humidity suit it.

   What: walk the halls; somewhere in this ice is the wine you can order in step 3.

   Log Memory
3. 3 Raise a Valais Glass to a Bottle of Red a Day Wine · Price: low

   The ration the railway says it gave its workers, remembered at the summit's table.

   The railway says that, to keep them in good spirits, the site management gave each worker a bottle of red wine a day; up to 200 people lived at the Eigergletscher camp, about 160 of them Italians.

   Where: Restaurant Crystal, the summit's à la carte restaurant.

   What: a glass of Valais Cornalin or Gamay, an open white from CHF 6.70 per decilitre, or the alcohol-free sparkling wine from Swiss grapes. The ice-aged Reine des Glaces is bottle-only and limited: CHF 199 for 75 cl.

   Log Memory
4. 4 Photograph the Ice the Miners Broke Through To Adventure · Free

   Your photo memory: the Aletsch glacier from the Sphinx terrace, which the railway says sits at 3,571 m.

   In the night to 21 February 1912 Italian miners, promised a special bonus for the breakthrough, blasted through to the Jungfraujoch; the station opened on 1 August 1912.

   Where: the Sphinx terrace, 3,571 m, by lift from the station.

   What: frame the Aletsch glacier, which the railway says runs 22 km, then take the picture you keep for the 30.

   Backup: if cloud hides the glacier, photograph the name plates in the corridor instead.

   Log Memory

Insider tips

• The railway says the summit station stands at 3,454 m: if altitude is a question for your health, ask a doctor before the trip.

• From May to October the Good Morning Ticket takes 20% off the first two trains, with the ride down by 13:17; not with Half Fare, GA or Swiss Travel Pass.

• The same ice-aged wine is on the Cork Club's list in Grindelwald (stop 1), as a magnum.

• Going down, ride to Kleine Scheidegg (stop 5), where the Wengernalp railway runs on to Grindelwald.