SnowpenAir: festival history in the Jungfrau region

• The festival was organised by Jungfrau Railways.
• Twenty-two editions took place on Kleine Scheidegg.
• Kleine Scheidegg is around 2,000 metres above sea level.
• An edition was held at Grindelwald Terminal in 2022.
• The 2024 edition was the second on Männlichen.
• The festival ended in 2024 after 25 editions.
• The alpine setting shaped both travel to the venue and the concert experience.

SnowpenAir was an open-air music festival in the Jungfrau region and a distinctive winter experience whose history was closely tied to alpine venues. Most editions took place on Kleine Scheidegg; towards the end, the festival first moved to Grindelwald and finally to Männlichen. The 25th edition in March 2024 was also the last.

For many years, Kleine Scheidegg between Grindelwald and Wengen gave the festival its distinctive profile. The stage was set in an alpine landscape with views of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau. Visitors combined the concerts with a mountain railway journey and time in surroundings quite different from an open-air event in the valley.

After 22 editions at this location, another SnowpenAir was held at Grindelwald Terminal in 2022. The move followed an agreement related to the V-Bahn project: the festival was no longer to take place on Kleine Scheidegg. The new venue was by the valley station of the Eiger Express and offered a different event setting from the high-altitude festival site.

The festival moved to Männlichen for its closing years. Its 25th and final edition took place there on 23 and 24 March 2024. Simply Red, Gotthard and Juraya performed on Saturday; Sunday’s line-up featured Gölä, Heimweh and Stubete Gäng. The programme combined international bands with Swiss German-language music and concluded the series of 25 editions.

At the farewell edition, 4,700 fans attended on Saturday and 6,200 music fans came to Männlichen on Sunday. The two concert days brought almost 11,000 people together for the final SnowpenAir.