The principal ridge, a chain that runs 100 kilometres (62 mi) from west (Dent de Morcles) to east (Sidelhorn), whose highest peak is the Finsteraarhorn, forms the watershed between the cantons of Bern and Valais.

It also marks the separation between two distinct sections of the Bernese Alps: the chain west of Gemmi Pass, consisting mainly of foothills with a few large glacier-covered mountains (notably Dent de Morcles, Grand Muveran, Diablerets, Wildhorn and Wildstrubel) around 3,000 metres (9,800 ft), and the chain east of Gemmi Pass, consisting mainly of summits around 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) on several subranges, with large valley glaciers between them.

[4] A characteristic in the orography of the Bernese Alps is, that whereas the western portion of that chain consists of a single series of summits with comparatively short projecting buttresses, the higher group presents a series of longitudinal ridges parallel to the axis of the main chain, and separated from each other by deep valleys that form the channels of great glaciers.

To this again succeeds the deep trench through which the lower part of the Aletsch Glacier flows down to the Rhône, enclosed by the minor ridge that culminates at the Eggishorn.

[3] It is in the central and eastern portions of the range only that crystalline rocks make their appearance; the western part is composed almost exclusively of sedimentary deposits, and the secondary ridges extending through Bern and the adjoining cantons are formed of jurassic, cretaceous, or eocene strata.

[3] The beauty of the scenery and the facilities offered to travellers by the general extension of mountain railways make the northern side of the range, the Bernese Oberland, one of the portions of the Alps most visited by tourists.

Notwithstanding the activity of their predecessors, the members of the English Alpine Club have found scope for further exploits, amongst which may be reckoned the first ascents of the Aletschhorn and the Schreckhorn, and the still more arduous enterprise of crossing the range bypasses, such as the Jungfraujoch and Eigerjoch, which are considered among the most difficult in the Alps.