Day Two (6/8). Bagging Three Big Passes and Andermatt

Our guidebook for the trip was a book published exclusively for motorcyclist who want to enjoy the best rides in the Alps and its author has explored hundreds of roads over thousands of clicks, gathering them into trips or loops of varying distances and rated them for the challenge and scenic beauty of each. “Trip One” in the book was our goal for the day and included some of the most legendary Alpine passes and the best in the western Alps. Unfortunately, a single wrong turn as we left the village of Airolo, a mistake compounded by a clearly mistaken set of directions from a local farmer, meant that we started from the wrong point in the loop and missed one important pass. However, as we soon learn, we couldn’t really make a big mistake because every direction we turned was challenging and beautiful. So we started with the Nufenen Pass, which was just about as good as it gets!

Our first pass - Nufenen

Just a couple turns to get up the hill

We did get the big daddy, though: Furka Pass, a blustery winter wonderland found at 2700 meters after a mind-blowing and seemingly endless series of tight switchbacks carved into the steep hillside. Ahh, this is what we came for and we came, we saw, and we conquered! What makes Furka so unique is that it is home to the Rhone glacier, the source of the Rhone River. Seeing the glacier up close was awesome but disturbing. It was pretty clear that there was little left of the icy monster that had carved the jagged peaks we rode and we had to wonder what will happen to the region when it is gone. The impact of global warming could not be more graphic.

Curve 7 on the way up Furka

Cold and snowy near the top

The remains of the Rhone Glacier

Coming down off Furka, we stopped for another of the many cappuccino and pastry stops that sustained us, this time in the mountain village of Andermatt. Andermatt is surrounded by a rig of tall peaks, each with a notable pass and within easy reach and eyesight of most, so it is a Mecca for motorcyclists and nature lovers alike. Fro m there we went to the definitively named Oberalp Pass where a small glacial lake and a chilling light rain really brought home the unearthly environment at the top of the big passes.

The village of Andermatt from halfway up Oberalp

Downtown Andermatt

The cold top of Oberalp

The long road down

Oberalp Hotel

We stayed just long enough to take a few pix and eat some sandwiches we had brought along. It was at Furka and Oberalp we were also introduced to a unique Alpen feature: the cog railway, a train that can be driven up steep hillsides by a linear gear set down the middle of the tracks, looking a bit like the teeth of a bicycle’s crankshaft gear. Very simple, very quaint, but like so many things in this unchanging region, very effective. Whether it is the way a house is built, or a farm animal tended, or something as simple as how a winter’s worth of wood is laid away, the Alpine folk have a way of doing it that works well and creates a unique cultural identity.

After lingering a bit longer than we had planned, we rushed due North to the German border, again arriving at our hotel late, but again enjoying the hospitality of the hotel kitchen, this time favoring traditional German fare of schnitzel, spetzel, local beer, and for one lucky diner among us, the regional specialty—white asparagus.

Ah, home for the night, with great food and beer