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People, Travel

40 Years of Powder Byrne in Grindelwald

When you hear the name Grindelwald, most people immediately think of the
magical character from J.K. Rowling’s beloved Harry Potter series. In fact, a quick
Google search reveals that you have to scroll quite far down before you encounter
references to the charming Swiss mountain village of the same name.

Nestled in a unique alpine landscape beneath the imposing north face of the Eiger, this is the Grindelwald we know and love—the very first Powder Byrne ski resort dating back to 1985.

In 1985, a young and budding entrepreneur Rory Byrne set out to share his
passion for skiing and love of the Swiss Alps. In Powder Byrne’s first ever brochure in 1988 he wrote:

Our central aim is simple: to design the winter sports holiday you’d design for yourself, irrespective of how good a skier you are.


To our way of thinking, that means selecting a superb resort, finding excellent accommodation, organising trouble free travel – and backing the whole arrangement with genuine, old fashioned service.

What’s more, we believe ‘old fashioned service’ means old fashioned flexibility. Skiing is essentially an individual sport – and we recognise that everyone has their own personal preferences and ambitions.


So for this season [1988], we’ve created a wider-than-ever range of options, many of them prompted by our regular skiers. Our strength in our resorts means that we can tailor your holiday to meet your individual requirements… just ask, and you can count on an informed and helpful answer.


If this all sounds rather different from the kind of skiing holiday you’re accustomed to, be warned: ski with Powder Byrne once, and you’re more than likely to book with us again. Most of our clients do.”

Grindelwald was the resort which launched the spirit of Powder Byrne and this was thanks to the local support, the chalet and hotel accommodation options and of course, the varied amount of skiing that the Jungfrau has to offer. The Hotel Fiescherblick, the Hotel Hirschen and the Chalet Guggenhus were some of the first properties guests enjoyed and were greeted daily by Rory and a team of ski guides including the local legend Ueli Frei, who led the top skiers in the ‘Powder Skiing with Ueli Frei’ ski programme.

Over the next winters, Rory was able to develop new and innovative ski programmes catering to individual abilities and now even families. The ‘Powder Byrne Junior Club’, ‘Beginners’ Week’, ‘Powder Fun 10,000’ and ‘Ski Touring’ programmes began to grow in popularity due to the resorts varied ski range, friendly and fun atmosphere. In the early 90’s, the ‘Powder Byrne Junior Club’ was renamed the Powder Byrne ‘Yeti Club’ which remains the most popular ski programme in Grindelwald to this day.

Grindelwald and the rebirth of the classic Swiss Ski Resort

Whilst Grindelwald boasts a rich mountain history, with its dramatic peaks and excellent skiing attracting adventurers since the early pioneers of the 19th century – it also is one of the world’s leading resorts for innovation and mountain modernisation.

The first person to ski here was Englishman Gerald Fox, who in 1881 donned his skis in his hotel room and strolled out through the bar directly onto the slopes. A few years later, in 1896, construction of the Jungfrau Railway began under the guidance of entrepreneur and engineer Adolf Guyer-Zeller. After years of effort, the Jungfraujoch railway station, the highest in Europe at 3,454 meters, opened in 1912, ushering in a new era of Swiss mountain tourism. By the 20th century, Grindelwald had firmly established itself as a favourite destination for winter skiers and summer hikers. It even featured in the 1969 James Bond movie, “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” where the revolving restaurant Piz Gloria atop the Schilthorn served as the lair for the villain Blofeld.

Rory Byrne chose Grindelwald as the launch site for Powder Byrne after spending many happy childhood years skiing there. While other resorts have invested in speedy new lift systems and flashy marketing campaigns, Grindelwald’s charming mountain trains and older gondolas gave it a nostalgic feel. Although the resort still attracted plenty of visitors when the snow fell, the slower access to the slopes was dampening interest. However, times are changing in Grindelwald. With the newly opened phase one of the ambitious V-Bahn Project in 2020, which had been decades in the making, access to the slopes has been transformed, sparking renewed interest in this iconic resort.

The V-Bahn project was the most innovative and exciting construction project in the Alps, one of the biggest lift projects worldwide, and true to the tradition of visionary pioneering achievements in the construction of the Jungfrau Railway between 1896 and 1912. Seeing what it has achieved for the destination is incredible and knowing we are not yet completed is very exciting indeed.”


— Remo Käser, Jungfrau Railways

The CHF 470 million V-Bahn Project included the construction of two new modern high-capacity ski lifts and an integrated railway station. The first new lift, a 10-person gondola runs from the new railway station in Grindelwald to the Männlichen peak, reducing the journey time from 30 to 19 minutes. The second lift, a 3S cable car, runs nearly 6.5 kilometers to the Eigergletscher, bypassing the existing rack-and-pinion railway and cutting the journey time from 40 to 15 minutes while significantly increasing capacity.

The vast and ambitious V-Bahn Project has put Grindelwald back on the map for skiers and hikers worldwide, revitalizing the entire Jungfrau region and restoring its reputation as one of the finest ski resorts in the Swiss Alps. With many charming family-run hotels and a picturesque, historic village, Grindelwald continues to be an excellent choice for families and offers fantastic skiing for all abilities, with access to 591 kilometres of downhill skiing on 131 pistes across the linked ski areas of Grindelwald, Wengen, and Murren. We particularly recommend Grindelwald for Powder Byrne families new to skiing due to its excellent beginner slopes and facilities, as well as our exclusive programmes for novice skiers, Learn to Ski in Style and SnoZone Beginners.

After over 40 years of Powder Byrne heritage in Grindelwald, we’re proud to see this pioneering alpine region entering the new era with renewed energy and enthusiasm.

Grindelwald remains a beloved and immensely popular part of the Powder Byrne Original Skiing programme, and with the impressive new V-Bahn Project, its popularity is set to soar.

Grindelwald is back!