Region: Canton of Uri, Switzerland
Departure: Hospental
Height: 2,106 metres
Altitude Gain: 610m
Length: 8.6 kilometres
Average gradient: 7.1%
Maximum Gradient: 9.0%
Andermatt,
in fact, is connected by four Alpine passes: Oberalp Pass to the east, St.
Gotthard to the south, Göschenertal Pass to the north and Furka Pass to the
west. Rather ironically, the highest of the four – Furka Pass – seems to be
a lot less-renowned than Switzerland’s fabled climbs, St. Gotthard and Susten
Pass.
The
attraction of St. Gotthard isn’t so much its difficulty, particularly from
Hospental. Less than 9 kilometres and averaging 7.1%, there are dozens of more
formidable climbs throughout Europe. From Airolo, it’s a different matter but
we’ll get to that in my next blog. Its attraction seems more to do with its engineering
history, particularly its tunnel – which draws motorists aplenty – and its
cobbled road.
Apart
from the bleak conditions, which, if anything, worsened the higher I climbed,
it took me surprisingly less time to reach the top of the pass than I ever envisaged. The first
4 kilometres of the climb average but a breath over 6%, while the remaining 5
are approximately 7.6%. With these figures, the main attraction from Gotthard’s
northern route is obviously not its difficulty but its well-preserved cobbled
road and the breathtaking scenery along the way.
As I would soon learn, the route from its southern
side, Airolo, is a different matter altogether.
Books by Mark
Krieger:
‘High Spain
Drifter’ is available on Amazon
, Barnes
and Noble, Booktopia
and other online bookstores.
‘Lycra, Lattes and the Long Way Round’ is
available on Amazon,
Book
Depository, Barnes
and Noble, Kobo
Books
Both books are also available
at local bookshops on the Mornington Peninsula: @ Rosebud Bookbarn and @ La Brocante
“The bicycle is the most civilized
conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish.
Only the bicycle remains pure in heart.”
English
author Iris Murdoch
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