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The 3 passes: Susten - Grimsel - Furka
Switzerland tour provided by: Adrian Burkert


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Tour

Susten - Grimsel - Furka

The three passes build a nice roundtrip: The start is at Wassen and the finish line not more than about 20km south in Andermatt - in between three of the nicest passes connecting the heart of Switzerland with the Valais and the Berne highlands.


Susten

Data

Height of pass: 2224m
Slope: 9%
# of turns:
Best season:
Time: 40 min
Distance: 43.6km
Roadmap: Map of the 3 passes GPS Data
Location Coordinate [WGS84] Type Services
Wassen 46° 42' 07.9'' N 008° 35' 34.3'' E town all services
Susten pass 46° 42' 07.9'' N 008° 35' 34.3'' E pass none
Steinengletscher 46° 43' 59.8'' N 008° 26' 49.8'' E glacier restaurant
Meiringen 46° 43' 44.3'' N 008° 11' 11.6'' E town all services

Pictures

General information
Road condition: good.
Road into center of Meiringen closed to bikers from 0600 to 2100 !!! (seems they don't want money from the tourists)

Road description
Starting at Wassen the road quickly gains height and after traversing the valley you reach the pass where you have a very nice view over the Steinegletscher and into the Berne region.
Be sure to see the Steinegletscher - altough there is a 5.-sFr road toll up there. After about 250m turn left into the narrow path to see the first tongue of the glacier, further up pass the car parc and continue (gravel & stones & sand) to the main tongue of the glacier where there's a small pond and the glacier-cave (be careful ! glaciers are dangerous ! don't go too close !)
The pass road traverses another mountain and finally reaches Meiringen.


Grimsel

Data

Height of pass: 2165m
Slope: 11%
# of turns:
Best season:
Time: 29min
Distance: 31.8km
Roadmap: Map of the 3 passes GPS Data
Location Coordinate [WGS84] Type Services
Meiringen 46° 43' 44.3'' N 008° 11' 11.6'' E town all services
Grimsel pass 46° 33' 49.9'' N 008° 20' 34.8'' E pass restaurant, hotel , parc
Gletsch 46° 33' 37.7'' N 008° 21' 34.7'' E village restaurant

Pictures

General information
Road conditions: good
Many bikers up there on weekends (seems this is the berne peoples racetrack !) - traffic can get very busy in the small turns. Take care of the people living in the small villages - drive slowly in this aerea !

Road description
From Meiringen the road continues through a few small villages, then gets slowly steeper and after a few needlepins you reach the first plateau.
The last part up to the pass is the pure racetrack: at first a few km straight, then hairpins as you like it - let the footrests glow in the dark !!!

At the pass the landscape opens to the south-east - have a look over the lake to the Valais / Wallis ! Up there there is a little groundhog zoo and a huge restaurant with a giant bike parking.

From there you drive about 250m then the road turns to the left and .... a new valley opens up showing you many awesome hairpins you have to challenge on your way down to Gletsch.


Furka

Data

Height of pass: 2431m
Slope: 14%
# of turns:
Best season:
Time: 25 min
Distance: 26.9 km
Roadmap: Map of the 3 passes GPS Data
Location Coordinate [WGS84] Type Services
Gletsch 46° 33' 37.7'' N 008° 21' 34.7'' E village restaurant
Furka pass 46° 34' 29.7'' N 008° 25' 07.0'' E pass shop, restaurant
Andermatt 46° 37' 54.7'' N 008° 36' 00.1'' E town all services
Pictures

General information
Road conditions: good, pretty narrow between Andermatt and the pass, take care when overtaking sunday drivers in their cars !
The Furka connects the middle of Switzerland with the german speaking part of the Wallis.

Road description
From Gletsch traversing a mountain almost straight (stop at the car park half way up, nive view !) then back in the valley it changes completely and with needlepins you gain a lot of height on your way up to the Rhoneglacier.

Be sure to stop there to have a short peek at the ice giant !

The way down isn't as much fun as the way up - allthough the landscape is very nice. The road gets a little narrow and so the cars searching their way down can make you a nervous wrack (let me pass next time pleeeeeeeeze) !


Sights in the area


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