Somewhere in the glaciated heart of the Bernese Oberland, close to the Grimsel lakes and a short distance from the Furka Pass, this dot falls in country that belongs more to climbers than to riders. The mountains here are huge and bare, the Finsteraarhorn and its neighbours stand above deep valleys, and the rivers run milky with glacial flour. It is among the wildest parts of the Alps.
Furka itself, at 2,429 metres, connects Uri and Valais and has one of the best-known views in the Alps. On the Valais side, the Rhone glacier, the source of the great river, spills down a rocky slope. Fifty years ago the ice reached nearly to the road, but it has retreated dramatically, and today it is partly covered in white blankets to slow melting during summer. You can walk into an ice grotto cut into the glacier, a short tourist experience that gives a sense of the scale. The hotel at the foot of the glacier is an old Victorian building and a landmark in its own right. The pass was also used in the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger, where Bond's Aston Martin chases through the bends, and the road still draws film fans.
The ride over the Furka is a series of wide hairpins with exposed drops and little barrier, and the weather can change rapidly. Cold wind, fog and snow are possible in any month, and the pass is closed in winter, normally opening in June. An old narrow-gauge steam railway runs nearby on part of the route, preserved by volunteers, and the sight of steam rising against the rock is memorable.
Fuel is the catch. There is none at the top, so tank up at Meiringen, Andermatt or Gletsch before climbing, and note that Gletsch has little more than a hotel and a handful of buildings. Meiringen, the larger town to the north, has plenty of services and is known for the meringue, supposedly invented there, and for Reichenbach Falls, where Sherlock Holmes met his end.
If you can, ride early. The tarmac is cold in the morning, but traffic is light, and the light on the ice is pure.