Andermatt - Circuit of three passes

A circuit ( round trip from Wassen) of the Susten, Grimsel and Furka passes offers a breathtaking experience, combining splendid Alpine scenery with the tremendous technical achievements of the road engineers.

The newest of the three roads, the boldly engineered Susten road (No 11), built between 1938 and 1946, runs up from Wassen through the wildly beautiful Meiental, goes over the Susten pass in a tunnel (2,224 m/7,297ft) just under the summit and descends the Gadmen valley, passing close to the Stein glacier, to Innertkirchen, where it leaves the magnificence of this high Alpine valley for a gentler landscape of pastureland and orchards. The Grimsel road (No 6), built in 1891-94, which links the Bernese Oberland with Upper Valais (the Upper Rhône valley) and the Furka, starts from Innertkirchen (626 m/2,054ft), in a beautiful setting of forest and Alpine meadows, and runs up the attractive Hasli valley. Above Guttannen this becomes narrower and wilder, until at Handegg the trees disappear altogether and the road continues to climb through a bare rocky wilderness, past massive dams and narrow fjord-like reservoirs. From the Grimsel pass (2,165 m/7,013ft), the lowest of the three passes, the road runs down, with many hairpin bends, to Gletsch (1763 m/ 5784ft), in the Upper Rhône valley. From here the Furka road (No 19), built in 1864-66, leads up through the bare upper reaches of the valley, passes immediately under the Rhône glacier and continues up to the Furka pass (2,431 m/7,976ft), the highest point on the trip. It then continues down into the Urseren valley through scenery of a different type, with rugged mountains of uncompromising bulk.

All three roads are well built and excellently engineered, particularly the Susten road (minimum width 6 m/20ft, well-cambered bends, maximum gradient 8%). The Grimsel road, with its many bends, has been modernized (4-7 m/13-23ft wide, maximum gradient 9%). The Furka road (improved 1960-63; 4-8 m/13-26ft wide) is the steepest of the three (10%); the stiffest gradients are mostly on the bends, and in the thinner air at this altitude they make particularly heavy demands on the engine of a car. The round trip involves an ascent of some 3,600 m/11,812ft with about 60 sharp bends. Motorists who are unused to Alpine driving should exercise particular care. All three passes are usually open from mid June to mid October (emergency telephones).