St Gotthard Road

From Hospental the road to the Furka pass goes off on the right. The St Gotthard road, bearing left, now climbs up into the desolate valley of the Gotthard-Reuss with five hairpin bends. The view to the rear of the Urseren valley and the chain of mountains to the north, from the Spitzigrat (2,560 m/8,399ft) to the Galenstock (3,597 m/11,802ft), like the later views towards the pass, reveals the landscape of the St Gotthard massif in all its austerity - bare gneiss and granite crags, sometimes containing rare minerals, which have been little affected by glacier action but have been worn smooth by earlier ice, with many small lakes gleaming between the hills. The road continues up the long stretch of valley known as the Gamsboden (1,640 m/5,381ft), subject to dangerous avalanches in winter, climbing at a moderate gradient. To the left is the Guspis valley, below the Pizzo Centrale and the Guspis glacier. In 4km/2mi is Mätteli.