Kleines Siedelhorn to Gletsch

Along the Grimsel road there is a rewarding climb (2.5 hours) of the Kleines Siedelhorn (2,768 m/9,082ft; fine panorama). From the top of the pass a beautiful but narrow private road (alternating one-way traffic) runs 6km/4mi west to the Oberaarsee (58million cu. m/2,048million cu. ft), with parking and the Berghaus Oberaar (hotel and restaurant, 12b., camp-site; alt. 2,340 m/7,678ft). A little farther on, to the right, are the Hotel Grimselpass Höhe (30b.) and the Totensee (2,144 m/7,034ft), whose name ("Lake of the Dead") commemorates the bitter fighting here between Austrian and French forces in 1799. Various crystals from the region are exhibited in the crystal cavern at Grimsel. The road descends the steep slope of the Meienwang in six sharp bends, with views of the Rhône glacier and the windings of the Furka road: to the left the Galenstock and Dammastock, to the southeast the Pizzo Rotondo. It then comes to Gletsch (1,763 m/5,784ft) at the lower end of the debris-covered valley, which a century ago was blanketed for more than half its area by the Rhône glacier.