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.
Despite being the most elevated, prominent and isolated mountain of both the Bernese Alps and the canton of Berne, 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 un-inhabited 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 Berne. Politically, it is split between the municipalities of Fieschertal (Valais) and Guttannen (Berne). The Valais–Berne border is also the watershed between the Rhône (Mediterranean Sea) and Rhine (North Sea) rivers. The Finsteraarhorn is the culminating point of the Rhine drainage basin.
The Finsteraarhorn was dethroned by Monte Rosa as the highest summit of Switzerland when Valais joined the Swiss Confederation in 1815.
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