Furkapass

September 1st and snow already?

At 2,429 metres, Furkapass is the fourth highest paved mountain pass in Switzerland. Both sides are wide, well engineered roads, but in the remote high Alps with very little development beyond the occasional old hotel or farm-house.

This region is cycling heaven: beautiful mountains, well surfaced roads, and hairpins everywhere.

Furkapass can be included in two challenging three-pass loops:
1. Furkapass-Nufenenpass-Gotthardpass (best counter-clockwise)
2. Furkapass-Grimselpass-Sustenpass (best clockwise)

Here is an old photo I took from Grimselpass showing Furkapass in the distance:

I did the first loop above (but clockwise) as part of the Alpenbrevet cyclosportive a few years back. Details here. And here is an old post where I rode up the west side of Furkapass and also visited the gigantic Nufenpass nearby.

The road over Furkapass was built in 1867. Fifty years ago it featured in the James Bond film Goldfinger. The below Bond video clip starts beside the Belvedere Hotel. 140+ years old, it looks the same today as 50 years ago:

My original plan was to ride the second loop listed above, but it had snowed the night before up high and the weather was appalling in the morning (and I’d need a lot of time to finish that loop).

So instead, I decided to cycle up the east side of Furkapass (my first time) and play things by ear.

Beautiful early stretch on the east side:

As I got higher, I soon reached the snow line. It was cold, very windy, and lots of threatening clouds, but staying warm is easy when going uphill.

Plenty of unhappy cows:

I descended down the other side but only as far as Gletsch. At this intersection I could either continue descending or turn up the amazing hairpins to Grimselpass. It was raining here but sunny atop Furka. I stopped for some caffeine and hoped the weather would move. But Grimselpass remained covered in fog, drizzle, and dark clouds so I decided to play things safe and pedalled out of the rain and back up to Furkapass again.

Even though I had to shorten my plans, this was a fun ride on a day that could have been a complete wash-out due to the weather. But just Furkapass alone will always be worth a visit. As I descended the last few hairpins I saw a little rainbow. Nice.

8.8 Awesome

I'd hope to visit some more cols, but a great ride considering the weather.

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