The Great St Bernard is one of the oldest crossings of the Alps, and standing at 2,469 metres, with the Swiss and Italian borders running through the lake and the hospice, it feels like a place where history has been piled up in layers. A small, cold lake sits in the saddle, bare rock rises around it, and the snow lingers here far into summer. The air is thin, the light is hard and bright, and on a clear day you can see for a long way in both directions.
People have been crossing here since the Bronze Age. The Romans built a road and a temple dedicated to Jupiter, and travellers passed over the centuries as merchants, pilgrims and armies. The hospice was founded in the Middle Ages, traditionally in the eleventh century, by Bernard of Menthon, and the canons have sheltered stranded walkers ever since. The famous St Bernard dogs were bred here, and a kennel and museum let you meet them in summer. Napoleon led an army over in 1800, with cannons dragged across the pass on hollowed logs, and the crossing is part of the legend of that campaign.
The ride itself is memorable. From the Swiss side the road climbs from Bourg-Saint-Pierre in a series of broad curves and tight hairpins, and the vegetation gives way to rock and grass. The summit has a modest cluster of buildings, with cafés and souvenir shops, which are very welcome after the cold. On the Italian side, the road drops through the Valle del Gran San Bernardo, past Saint-Rhémy and Etroubles, on a surface that can be rougher, with tight bends and patches of damage from frost.
On the Swiss side the last good pumps are in Orsières and Martigny, and on the Italian side you will find them in Aosta, about nineteen kilometres from the Etroubles area. The pass is closed in winter, usually from October to June, though a tunnel runs beneath it year round. Check the status before you go, and bring your documents because the border is still a border.
Etroubles, a small village on the Italian side, is known for cured ham from the nearby Bosses valley and for the Fontina cheese of the Aosta region. A plate of either, with a coffee, is the right reward for a day on the mountain.