The Eiger is located 5.5 km northeast of the Jungfrau, in the northeastern part of the Bernese Alps. At the same distance to the north lies the village of Grindelwald, which is about 20 km from Interlaken. Other close settlements lie to the west, in the valley of Lauterbrunnen. The river Schwarze Lütschine flows from the Lower Grindelwald Glacier on the mountains eastern base. The mountain does not properly form part of the main chain of the Bernese Alps. It is a huge limestone buttress, projecting from the granitic mass of the Mönch across the Eigerjoch, and the glaciers on either flank feed two branches of the same stream—the Lütschine—that flow together to the Aar.