Finsteraarhorn
highest mountain of the Bernese Alps at the border of Berne and Valais in Switzerland
The Finsteraarhorn (4,274 m; 14,022 ft) is a mountain lying on the border between the cantons of Bern and Valais. It is the highest mountain of the Bernese Alps and the most prominent peak of Switzerland. The Finsteraarhorn is the ninth-highest mountain and third-most prominent peak in the Alps. In 2001 the whole massif and surrounding glaciers were designated as part of the Jungfrau-Aletsch World Heritage Site.
Geography
Despite being the most elevated, prominent and isolated mountain of both the Bernese Alps and the canton of Bern, the Finsteraarhorn is less known and frequented than the nearby Jungfrau and Eiger. This is due to its location in one of the most remote areas in the Alps, completely surrounded by uninhabited glacial valleys.
To its west lies the Fiescher Glacier, the second longest in the Alps, and to the east lie the Great Aar Glaciers. The smaller Lower Grindelwald Glacier lies north of the massif. The Finsteraarhorn is surrounded by the summits of the Schreckhorn and Lauteraarhorn to the north, the Gross Fiescherhorn, Grünhorn and Gross Wannenhorn to the west and the Oberaarhorn to the east.
The summit lies on the border between the cantons of Valais and Bern.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Finsteraarhorn” is highest mountain of the Bernese Alps at the border of Berne and Valais in Switzerland. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Finsteraarhorn, highest and mountain, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “highest mountain of the Bernese Alps at the border of Berne and Valais in Switzerland” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q15127. VIAF identifies the subject as 246275887. The Library of Congress control number is sh88002955. Authority coordinates are 46.537, 8.126. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2001.
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This entry incorporates text from “Finsteraarhorn” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.