The western approach to the Furka starts in the Goms and ends on the shoulder of one of the most famous glaciers in the Alps. At 2,429 metres the pass joins the Valais and Uri, and on this side the road climbs from the hamlet of Gletsch, where the Rhône begins its journey, through a staircase of hairpins that give increasingly grand views of the ice behind.
The Rhône glacier used to fill the valley floor here, and a hundred and fifty years ago it came down almost to the old hotels at Gletsch. It has been shrinking steadily since, and the stone-built Belvédère hotel on the road once looked straight at the ice front, which has since pulled back a long way. White blankets are laid on parts of the glacier each summer to slow the melt, and a tunnel carved into the ice, open in season, lets you walk inside. The source of one of Europe's great rivers is a grey, milky stream pouring from the foot of the glacier, and it is humbling to stand over it.
The riding is a pleasure. The ramp has tight corners at first, then settles into longer curves with good views and a reasonably smooth surface. There are no guardrails in places, so concentration matters, especially in traffic, since the road is popular with coaches and cyclists as well as bikes. Wind and cold are the usual company at the top. Fuel is not available on the pass, so fill in Oberwald or in the Brig area before you start, and in Andermatt if you are heading east.
The Furka also has film history: a car chase in the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger was shot on its hairpins, and the Belvédère hotel stands in the background. Whether or not you care about Bond, the road is worth the effort, and the pass is open roughly from June to October, depending on the snow.