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Classic climb: Grimsel Pass, the Swiss climb that’s anything but grim
What makes a great climb? There’s no one recipe, but a heady cocktail of sheer scale, pitch-perfect infrastructure and views to die for earns Switzerland’s Grimsel Pass the accolade. The Grimsel connects the cantons of Bern and Valais, topping out at 2,165m above sea level.
We’re taking on the climb from the south, starting in the village of Oberwald, a ride of just over 12km and almost 800m of ascent. If you wanted to make a day of it, you could start further back in the town of Brig and add another 41km and 835m of climbing, but as most of it is a grind along a main road it doesn’t add much in terms of aesthetics.
While the final 12.3km climb is entirely uphill, it divides roughly into three main sections: the initial ascent from Oberwald, a ride up the Rhône Valley to Gletsch and then the main Grimsel climb with its six long hairpins.
While the profile makes it look consistent in gradient all the way, this disguises the many small variations in steepness, with the sharp kicks of the switchbacks providing the biggest numbers. So save your energy for the final act.
Riding out of Oberwald, you soon find yourself winding through pretty Alpine woodland, sun dappling the road if you’re lucky with the weather. The gradients are modest, hovering around mid to high single-digits, and the road surface is characteristically smooth. Three spaced-out hairpins and a few twists and turns keep things interesting.
Grim fairytales
The Furka Steam Railway, which begins in Oberwald, runs along the same bit of valley, criss-crossing the road at various points and affording the opportunity to include an open-topped train in your selfies if your timing is good.
At this point the riding is pretty rather than epic; the mountains are omnipresent but at this altitude you’re very much among them rather than surveying the vista.
The roads in this part of the world come in many flavours. While they’re without exception beautifully maintained – this is Switzerland, after all – the feel changes drastically with elevation. Down in the valley it’s lush and green and, dare we say, quite normal, but it offers glimpses of the surrounding grandeur.
As you climb, the landscape grows starker as it is subject to ever more intense weather. These routes spend a good portion of the year blanketed in snow, and the upper reaches don’t benefit from the shelter of trees – only the hardiest of plants thrive here.
The outcrops of rock at intervals either side of the road serve as a reminder that the Grimsel’s builders were doing battle with the mountain itself, chiselling off any chunks in the way. A bit like Michelangelo removing all the superfluous stone to reveal David, they had to smash apart everything that didn’t look like a perfect Swiss highway.
Our route’s most theatrical moment comes as you round a gentle lefthand bend at around the 5km mark. Suddenly you’re confronted with the entire remainder of the task at hand – the stacked hairpins of the main ascent, tracing a white zig-zig up an immense wall of green mountainside that’s topped with stark grey rock.
You get a real sense of the sheer amount of elevation the road dispatches over a relatively short distance, and the spectacle is reminiscent of climbs with greater name recognition, such as the iconic Stelvio.
There follows a near-straight section along the valley, with the railway line and river below to your right. It culminates in a pair of hairpins and then a bridge across the water that offers an expansive view back down the valley. Another hairpin comes immediately, then it’s a final push to the village of Gletsch.
You’ve covered less than 7km by this point so we hope you’ll be feeling fresh but, if not, Gletsch has some basic options for refreshment as well as being a stop on the funicular railway.
It’s also the gateway to the Grimsel pass proper, with a left turn by the charming Belle Époque Grand Hotel Glacier du Rhône signalling that things are about to get serious. (Turning right, incidentally, takes you up the western side of the Furka, past perhaps the most famous hotel of all, the sadly defunct Belvédère.)
Grim up north
It’s roughly 6km to the finish, and thanks to the unimpeachable accuracy of Switzerland’s civil engineers, the gradient here varies by little more than a percentage point either way, with an average of 6.9% overall.
It’s gentle enough that keeping a steady pace is feasible, but as ever the little kicks up the inside of the switchbacks test the legs that bit harder. Six 180° turns take you to the final drag upwards and the views expand by an order of magnitude, with the Furka shimmering in the distance.
The road here is wide and well-sighted, which sometimes inspires our motorised brethren to acts of foolhardiness, but no one is ever surprised to see a cyclist here, so it rarely feels especially dangerous in the way it can on occasions at home in the UK.
After heading north, the final section of the climb turns west. With the mountain rising to your right, it takes just a few more bends until you’re delivered to the Alpenlodge Grimselpass, whose restaurant boasts an entirely windless sun terrace and a comprehensive menu of rösti.
This fried potato dish is inextricably associated with this part of the world and it’s the perfect fuel for big days on the bike, provided you take your time and let your body absorb it a little before setting off again.
The Alpenlodge sits opposite two gloriously kitsch attractions: a crystal grotto and a mini marmot park where our furry alpine friends peek out of miniature wooden chalets.
You may mark the end of your ride here but, whether you intend to descend the northern side of the pass or not, it’s worth continuing around the lake at the top (the Totensee – or ‘dead sea’) to gawp at the view.
Without underselling it, the ride up this southern side of the Grimsel isn’t actually all that hard by the standards of Alpine passes. The thin mountain air adds to the challenge, though, and the considerable amount of elevation – 800m in one go – means it is no small feat, making it the ideal opportunity to test your form before tackling one of the steeper passes nearby. All in all, it’s not grim at all.
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