Grimsel Pass (62 km)

Innertkirchen to Gletsch

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Why this ride

A 62 km one-way ride from near Meiringen, about 1 h 04 of riding. It goes by way of Handeck, Grimsel Hospiz and Grimsel Pass. The highest point is about 2,350 m. Grimsel Pass is subject to seasonal closure - check it is open before you set off. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.

Roadbook

1. Innertkirchen start

   Innertkirchen sits at 625 metres where the Haslital opens out, and in practice it is a junction. Two famous passes start here, the Grimsel climbing southeast toward the Rhône glacier and the Susten rising east toward the Reuss valley, and the roads divide at the edge of the village. The Aare river runs through, fresh from the glaciers, and just downstream the Aare Gorge cuts a narrow slot of polished limestone that can be walked on timber galleries. The valley is also the heart of the Oberhasli hydropower scheme, with turbines and tunnels bored deep inside the mountains, which explains the large grey buildings you pass.

   Four kilometres down the valley is Meiringen, the bigger place and the one with more services. The town says it invented the meringue, a claim that is hard to prove but cheerfully repeated in every bakery window. It also has a more literary link. Arthur Conan Doyle sent Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty over the nearby Reichenbach Falls in 1893, and there is a small Holmes museum in town and a funicular to the falls. For fuel, groceries and a proper meal, Meiringen is the answer, and a stop here before the passes is sound planning.

   The riding from Innertkirchen is as good as Swiss riding gets. Susten has long, perfectly graded curves up to a summit near 2,224 metres, with views of glaciers, while Grimsel goes up to around 2,164 metres past big reservoirs and rock walls before reaching the Furka and Nufenen roads beyond. Surfaces are good, but traffic can be heavy on summer weekends, and weather turns quickly, with cold rain or fog at the top while the valley basks. The passes close in winter, typically from around late October or November until late spring or early June, with dates depending on snow, so check before you plan a trip.

   Morning is the best time to leave, when the air is cold and the tarmac empty. Pack a warm layer, because even in July the summits can be close to freezing, and keep a hand on the fuel gauge, since there are no stations on the passes themselves.

2. Handeck scenic

   Handeck is a stop on the way up to the Grimsel where the road and the water meet in the loudest possible way. The Aare river, born a bit higher in the glacial valley, plunges here from a ledge in a single fall of about forty-six metres, throwing spray across the gorge, and a footbridge lets you stand close enough to be soaked. On a warm day it is cold and pleasant, and in spring snowmelt it is deafening.

   The setting is the Haslital, a glacial valley where granite dominates. The rock is pale, smooth and polished by ice, with hanging valleys and thin waterfalls on every side. This is also the heart of one of the Alps' great hydropower systems, with reservoirs high in the mountains feeding turbines in the valley, and you will see the hidden infrastructure in the form of pipes, galleries and small power stations. The Gelmerbahn, a funicular that climbs a slope at an astonishing gradient to the Gelmersee, starts close to the Handeck, and is one of the steepest of its kind in Europe, a short ride that is worth the money if you like heights.

   For riders, the road from Innertkirchen climbs in a series of long, steady bends, with views opening to the glacier-carved walls, and the Handeck marks the point where the climb becomes serious. Above, the road tightens and gains height over tunnels and galleries, and the trees thin out. The surface is generally excellent and the corners predictable, although the traffic, especially the coaches, can be heavy in summer. Morning is best, before the buses arrive.

   Meiringen, about fifteen kilometres down the valley, is the nearest large town, with supermarkets, petrol and restaurants. There is a small hotel and restaurant at the site, and a car park with a short walk to the fall. The Grimsel Pass above is closed in winter, normally from late October until late spring, so the road ends at the barrier early in the year.

   Meiringen is also known as the home of the meringue, according to local legend, and the fictional Sherlock Holmes met his apparent end at the nearby Reichenbach Falls. Both tales add a little flavour to a trip through this part of the Bernese Oberland.

3. Grimsel Hospiz scenic · 2164 m

   Close to the top of the Grimsel, the Hospiz is a stone hotel standing beside a reservoir whose water is the colour of slate. It is a landscape of bare granite, scattered snow and wind, and the dam walls, bridges and cables are as much a part of it as the mountains. The Grimsel region is where the Aare begins its journey to the Rhine, with lakes that supply some of the electricity Switzerland uses, and the place has the quiet, purposeful feel of a working mountain.

   The hospice has been a refuge on this route for centuries. The Grimsel was an important trade and pilgrim pass between the Bernese Oberland and the Valais, and a hospice has stood on this line for centuries, giving shelter to merchants and travellers caught by weather. The present building is more modern, and the old one, as with much of the area, was submerged or replaced when the reservoir was built. It is now a comfortable mountain hotel with a restaurant, and the food is hearty and generous.

   For riders, the pass road is a feast. From Innertkirchen the road climbs roughly fifteen hundred metres, with a series of hairpins, tunnels and big views across the glacier-polished rock. The top of the pass, at 2,164 metres, is a short ride beyond the Hospiz, and on the far side the road drops to Gletsch, where the Rhône Glacier lies above and the Furka and Nufenen passes branch out. The surface is excellent, the bends are wide, and the corners are an invitation to ride at a controlled, steady pace. Be aware of the cold: even in summer the wind at height can bite.

   Plan your tank accordingly. The Grimsel is closed in winter, normally from late October to late May or June, depending on the snow, so check before you set out.

   Take a moment at the lake. The wind makes patterns on the surface, and the light changes quickly, from grey to bright and back again. In autumn the larches lower in the valley are gold, and the first snow lies on the peaks.

4. Grimsel Pass scenic · 2164 m

   The Grimsel is a road made of granite. At 2,164 metres, the pass sits at the junction of the Bernese Alps and the Valais, in a bare, polished landscape of rounded boulders, tiny lakes and big reservoirs, where the ice of the last glaciation scraped the rock smooth. There is almost nothing growing at the top, and the sky seems close enough to touch.

   The road is a classic. Coming from Innertkirchen on the Bernese side, it climbs the Haslital in long straights and hairpins, passes the dam of the Räterichsbodensee, and then reaches the summit with a lake on each side. On the south side it drops in a series of tight hairpins to Gletsch, with the Rhône glacier appearing ahead. The surface is good, the corners are well signed, and the views are huge. It is also very popular, so expect cars, buses and other bikes on fine summer weekends. Start early, and you will have the best of it.

   The pass has been used since the Middle Ages by traders and pilgrims, and a hospice on the summit has sheltered travellers for centuries. Much of the surrounding country is part of a huge hydroelectric system, with tunnels and power stations buried in the mountain, and the water that powers it is the melt of the surrounding ice. Alpine choughs wheel on the thermals, and marmots whistle from the grass on the lower slopes.

   The pass is closed in winter, usually from about November to late May, depending on snow. A cafe and restaurant at the hospiz offer coffee, soup and cake, with high prices that you will forgive when you see the view. It can be cold and windy, even in July, so keep a layer in the top box.

5. Gletsch finish

   Gletsch is where a Bond car drove around a hairpin. The 1964 film Goldfinger used the road near here for its famous chase, with Sean Connery's Aston Martin DB5 winding along the Furka pass, and the old Hotel Belvédère, a big, handsome building from the age of grand Alpine tourism, stands at the foot of the climb. It has the look of a place that has been waiting for travellers for more than a century.

   The hamlet sits where the Grimsel and Furka roads meet, at the head of the Goms valley, at an altitude well above 1,700 metres. It is a tiny place, with a hotel, a station and a few buildings, but the setting is superb. The Rhône glacier, from which the great river starts its journey to the Mediterranean, once reached right down to the hamlet, and now has retreated far up the valley, so the ice that tourists once visited by carriage is a long way off. A cave carved into the ice is open in summer.

   The riding here is the great attraction. The road to the Furka climbs in a long sequence of hairpins with the glacier in view, then crosses the pass at about 2,430 metres. The surface is good, the barriers are solid, and the corners are generous, but at weekends the traffic is dense. In summer a steam railway runs on the old Furka line between Oberwald and Realp, a lovely thing to see puffing across the hillside.

   Come in the morning, when the light is clear and the roads are quiet. Cold wind comes off the glacier even in August, and snow can fall in any month at this height. Passes in this region close in winter, typically from late October to late May, so check before you go. A cup of coffee on the terrace of the old hotel, looking up at the ice, is one of the best small pleasures of the Alps.

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