Permanent Tourist

The personal website of Mark Howells-Mead

Posts about Männlichen

Männlichen is a 2,343 metre-high mountain in the Bernese Alps, which can be reached from the west via Lauterbrunnen and from the east via Grindelwald. The mountain restaurant and hotel is located on a relatively flat ridge, alongside which are the starting points for several hiking paths in the summer and many ski runs in winter. The ridge and peak are wonderful viewing points for the spectacular surrouding scenery, including the Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen valleys, and the famous three peaks of Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.

The cablecar from Grindelwald – which takes around 30 minutes to reach the mountain-top from the valley floor – is the longest in the world. The same distance can be covered in around four hours on foot (ascent) or much more quickly on skis or by sledge (descent).

  • An unfestive 1st August, barbecuing in a mountain valley, and walking around a lovely lake near Gstaad.

  • Part of the Grand Bisse d'Ayent irrigation system

    Random things in July

    Lots of work stopped me from going out so much, but we did get in a great trip to canton Wallis.

  • Random things in July

    Hiking and keeping cool in the mid-summer alpine heat.

  • The first part of my personal retrospective of a year which – to my eternal relief – wasn’t as bad on a personal level as it could easily have been.

  • Frozen snow drift at Männlichen

    By applying the right colour profile to your photo, you can get a much more nuanced version than through simple editing.

  • I visit the wintry mountain-top viewpoint at Männlichen, above Wengen and Grindelwald, to photograph the annual combined Patrouille Suisse/SWISS airliner air show.

  • Yours truly, in action whilst photographing part of a multi-image panorama at Männlichen in Switzerland last weekend.

  • Driving off-piste

    Jo and I took a drive up to Grindelwald last night to take some moonlit landscape photos. After an abortive attempt to head up to Bussalp–which saw us having to reverse back down a single track lane which got too narrow and way too steep to pass, after following the misguidance of Google Maps on…

  • I’ve been meaning to spend a little time to sit down and really get to grips with the High Dynamic Range editing process. For the unititiated, the HDR is a photo which contains detail within a much wider range of tones than is possible through an individual shot, from deep shadows to bright highlights.

  • Gallery of photos from Männlichen, an alpine plateau high above Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen in the Jungfrau Region of Switzerland.

  • Proper Sledging

    Jo and I go sledging in subzero temperatures from Kleine Scheidegg to Grindelwald, along a hairpin 7.5 km route through the forests beneath the north wall of the Eiger.

  • A winter weekend

    In January of 2005 – five years ago this week – Jo visited me in Switzerland for the first time. These photos show our wonderful time together.

  • I’m feeling generous: there are now large images online which my Flickr contacts can download at full 1920 x 1200 resolution, for use as a computer desktop wallpaper. For those lucky enough to have two screens, the images will match up to provide a panoramic image across both screens. Let me know if you’ve used…

  • I was asked at the end of last week by the director of a t.v. show to come along to Männlichen, above Grindelwald, and take stills from behind the camera.

  • Fiancées

    Photo by Jo’s dad Roy in September, when we visited Männlichen for the day with him and Jo’s mum Pat.