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The Alpine Passes of Switzerland |
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Switzerland is one
of the world’s great tourist countries. Within a relatively small
area (three Switzerland’s would fit neatly into the area of England)
it contains an extraordinary abundance of natural beauties, of which
the Alpine landscape with its towering mountain peaks and about 600
glaciers is the crown jewel.
One of the most
rewarding ways of experiencing this wonderland is by way of a
self-drive tour over its passes, some of them among the most
fascinating and magnificently engineered mountain roads in Europe.
There are at least 34 passes over 1000 m high in Switzerland. Four
of them, all well over 2000m, are special to me: the Furka, Susten
and Grimsel – closed from December to May - and the Simplon, open
all year.
The first three
passes form a circuit of about 120 km in the heart of the Alps. This
tour circles the Winterberg and Sustenhorn mountain ranges, with
peaks reaching an average height of 3 500m, skirting the spectacular
Rhônegletscher (‘Rhône Glacier’) and threads beautiful valleys such
as Urseren, Meien, Gadmen and Hasli.
The route to be
taken depends on where you depart from. We’ve once travelled from
Brigg in the Rhone valley, another time from Interlaken, but one can
also start the journey from Andermatt. For the sake of this article
we will depart from Brigg.
The Furka pass:
Follow Route 19 to the village of Gletsch, where the Furka and
Grimsel routes fork – Grimsel to the left and Furka to the right (Furka
= ‘fork’). At Gletsch you will find the Hotel Glacier du Rhône, set
below the spectacular glacier. Little has changed in this hotel
since its establishment in 1857. From here the road climbs in steep
zigzags (maximum gradient 14%).
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About three
quarters up the pass, you can turn off to the Hotel Belvedere,
strikingly situated near the edge of the glacier, commanding a
full view of the valley below, with the Grimsel zigzagging up
to the right, and the glacier ‘lying like a glove with its palm
downwards … a gauntlet of ice which centuries ago Winter threw
down in defiance of the Sun’ (As Longfellow described it in
1830, quoted in the Blue Guide to Switzerland). Adjacent
to the lookout point is an ice grotto leading into the glacier.
Entering it by way of a wooden walkway the blue-white colour of
the icy walls maintains an eerie silence. A sudden thought that
you are inside a slow moving river of ice, will ensure that you
greet the outside world with a sigh of relief!
At the summit of the
pass (about 11 km from Gletsch), you have a magnificent view over
the diminishing glacier, now 9 km. long, between 1 and 3 km wide,
and about 20 sq km. in extent, feeding the Rhône. The pass was
opened to wheeled traffic in 1867 and is one of the highest road
passes in Europe (2431m). |
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The road now descends down the Urseren valley, with two magnificent
peaks towering to the left (the Galenstock, 3583m and the
Winterstock, 3203m), and one to the right (Gross Muttenhorn 3099m),
to the small village Realp, and then on to Andermatt. Here you turn
left on Route 2, descending for about 20 km to Wassen, from where
Route 11 takes you along the Sussten Pass. On the way to Wassen, you
will cross the Devil’s Bridge, where a cross commemorates the battle
in 1799 between the French army of Napoleon and Russian forces.
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The Sussten pass:
From Wassen the road leads to Innertkirchen via the Sussten,
sometimes with steep zigzags (maximum gradient 9%). You pass
through a tunnel near the summit (2224m), and two km further
along the way there is a large car park with splendid views over
five glaciers and serried peaks, amongst them Sustenhorn (3504m)
and Tierberg (3447). Snow lies throughout the year on these
peaks. Both years that we were there (August and October) we
also encountered layers of snow on the Sussten itself. From the
viewpoint a 5 minute climb leads to the summit of the pass,
where a restaurant also offers fine views. The Susstenpass is
named from “Sust”, a toll house guarding the summit in earlier
years. |
On Sundays this parking lot is also the gathering place of members
of the Swiss Touring Club. You will then find numbers of motor
bikers enjoying the views. Vendors sell warm sausages and other
delicacies, whilst tourists play around in the snow next to the
road.
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From here the
road descends through the green Gadmen valley, with the peak of
the Titlis (3239m) visible to the right. The remarkably
engineered road down to Gadmen was completed in 1945 by refugees
from the war, and threads through numerous short tunnels,
winding through the surrounding woods. Finally you will reach
Innertkirchen.
The Grimsel pass:
This is one of the oldest known passes in the Alps. It was
already used in 1211 by an invading Bernese army. The well
engineered road was completed in 1895. Descending via Route 6
down the Haslit valley offers stunning views of the mountain
ranges on both sides, with the marks of ancient glaciers still
visible on the slopes of grey granite. Quite a number of present
glaciers are also to be seen, like the Lauteraar, Finsteraar and
Unteraar, emptying in the shimmering Grimselsee (‘Grimsel
lake’). Gradually the road ascends in zigzags to the Grimselpass
itself (2165m), maximum gradient 11%), with the Sidelhorn
(2879m) and the Grosses Sidelhorn (2879m) towering to the right. |
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Near the summit the khaki-coloured Totensee (the ‘Lake of the Dead’)
is to be seen to the right. The name was given after the massive
slaughter which took place here when the Austrian troops defended
the pass against the French forces in 1799. From the summit a number
of zigzags takes the route down to the valley of the Rhône, where it
meets Route 19 at the fork at Gletsch, from where the last stretch
leads back to the starting point, Brigg.
The Simplon pass:
Whilst in Brigg it is well worth traveling up the Simplon pass. It
was constructed on Napoleon’s orders between 1800 and 1808, as the
shortest route between Switzerland and northern Italy. At one time
more than 30 000 men were employed in its construction. Today the
road offers a tremendous scenic experience. It winds its way upwards
(maximum gradient 13%) through numerous tunnels, under protective
galleries and across marvelously engineered bridges, like the Ganter
Bridge, 678m long, supported by two huge concrete piers.
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A number of high
mountain peaks (Glishorn, 2525m, Waserhorn, 3246m and
Fletschhorn, 3993m) tower to the left and right of the pass. At
the summit (2005m) two small hotels will be encountered, namely
the Hotel Bellevue, and the Simplon-Blick. A large
stone eagle on a mound, erected to commemorate the manning of
the frontier by the Swiss troops during the Second World War is
to be seen next to the road. Should you decide to have an
overnight stay for the night at the Simplon-Blick, the
following morning it is quite an imposing sight to see, from
your hotel room this statue gradually becoming visible as the
dense mist slowly dissipates. From here the road gradually winds
down to the border post at the Swiss-Italian frontier. |
Other options:
Should you decide not to experience these passes all the way by car,
there are different alternatives to consider, of which the Swiss
Railway System offers enticing options. An excellent value-add is a
Swiss Pass, enabling a tourist to travel on its extensive,
comfortable and highly efficient train network. The Furka Steam
Railway, for example, offers a delightful trip back to the days
when travel was less urgent but infinitely more picturesque. The
romantic and historic train puffs and hisses its way via the Rhone
Glacier to Realp through a winding and torturous route with many
tunnels, bridges and precipitous cliffs.
The Swiss Pass also
enables you to travel on the Swiss tram, boat and bus system.
But as I said at the
beginning: a self-drive tour is for me the most rewarding, since you
can stop where you want, savouring beautiful scenery for as long as
you wish.
- Manie Wolvaardt |
