Ulrichen is a small Valais village in the Goms, the upper valley of the Rhône, where the river is still a shallow, quick stream running between wide meadows. The valley is long, high and quiet, about 1,350 metres up, and its villages are clusters of dark wooden houses raised on stone stilts, burned black by the sun over centuries. This is a Walser landscape, a place settled by mountain people who lived at the limit of the habitable, and even now there is a sense of space and slow time. Summer visitors come for cycling and walking, winter ones for the long cross-country ski trails that run the length of the valley floor.
The Nufenen Pass starts here, a climb to about 2,478 metres, which makes it the highest fully paved pass lying entirely within Switzerland. The road is a modern one, built in the 1960s, and it is generous, with broad bends, a good surface and spectacular views. The climb takes you through alpine meadow into bare, rocky terrain, with the Gries glacier visible to the east, and the summit is a stark, windy saddle with a small restaurant and a lot of wind. On the other side, hairpins drop into the Val Bedretto, in Ticino, where the language changes to Italian and the air becomes distinctly warmer.
Ulrichen is also close to the junction of the Furka and Grimsel roads, which means that a ride from here can be linked into a grand tour. The village has a church, a few guesthouses and cafés, and not much else, so do not count on a fuel station. Fiesch, some seventeen kilometres down the valley, is the nearest reliable option, and Naters near Brig, thirty-two kilometres off, has larger shops. Top up before you go, because the pass is a long way from anything.
The pass is closed in winter, usually from October to June, and snowfall can come at any time of year. Temperatures at the top can be near freezing even in July, and the wind can be fierce, so a good jacket and gloves are worth carrying. In the clear light of an early morning, with the road empty and the river glinting, Ulrichen is the sort of place where you tend to say little and ride well.