
I have included the profile for both sides below. Here is an old post where I climbed the north side as well as the west side of Furkapass.
Many of the highest Swiss north-south passes have centuries of history – Grand-St-Bernard, Gotthard, Simplon, for example, all have hospices dating from the middle ages. But the road over Nufenen wasn’t opened until 1969, helped by a road built in the early 1960’s to a new hydro-electric dam at the Griessee.
I used the Italian name of this pass in the title as I climbed the Italian-speaking Ticino side. The north side is in the German-speaking Wallis canton.

“At its halfway point, though, this face of the Nufenen alters suddenly and for the worse. The course of the climb is now traced by the ghastly outline of 20, maybe more, electricity pylons. As though recoiling at the sight, the vegetation gives way to rockier, menacing terrain. The road steepens. Distinctly unlovely, at least compared to, say, the the west sides of Susten of the Furka, the landscape does at least possess an austerity in keeping with the challenge.”

But don’t despair, the top few kilometres are fun, with plenty of hairpins. Beauty is relative.
There is a nice small lake (pond?), and a restaurant at the summit as well as great views of the Valais Alps beyond.







The second highest pass in Switzerland and a detour to a beautiful dam/lake below a glacier. Not bad. Shame about the electricity pylons.
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