Between Innertkirchen and the Grimsel Pass, the Haslital is a narrow, steep valley of granite and forest, and this is where the road starts climbing in earnest. The landscape is raw and powerful, shaped by glaciers that filled the valley during the ice ages and left behind smooth, rounded slabs of granite that gleam in the sun.
The valley has been a route across the Alps for centuries, used by traders carrying goods between the Bernese Oberland and the Valais. Today it is dominated by hydroelectric power: the Grimsel area is home to a series of dams and reservoirs, with tunnels and power stations hidden inside the mountains, and you will see the power lines and the huge walls of the dams as you climb. Guttannen is a small village of stone and wood houses, with a crystal museum that displays the minerals found in the area, including some huge quartz crystals.
The Grimsel road is one of the great Alpine rides, with long, sweeping curves and tight hairpins, smooth tarmac and spectacular scenery. The climb from Guttannen to the top of the pass, at 2,164 metres, passes the Handegg falls, the Räterichsboden and Grimsel reservoirs and the old hospice on its rock in the middle of the lake. On summer weekends you share it with coaches, camper vans, cyclists and half the motorcycles of Switzerland, and the road is closed in winter, typically from October or November to late May or June. The weather can change quickly, and snow can fall at any time of year.
In the valley below, Meiringen is the main town, about thirteen kilometres away, with fuel, shops and restaurants, and it claims to be the birthplace of the meringue. It is also where Sherlock Holmes met his apparent end at the Reichenbach Falls, in Arthur Conan Doyle's story, and the town has a Sherlock Holmes museum. Innertkirchen, at the foot of the climb, has a station and a few restaurants, and is also the start of the Susten pass road. Guttannen has a small shop and a restaurant, but for fuel, fill up in Innertkirchen or Meiringen before you start the climb.