Europe - Switzerland mountain roads questions

I've gotten to sample riding some of the high passes and mountain roads of Switzerland, and now I've got some questions about it.

(a) What is your favorite high road or pass to ride? What is it that you like so much about that one?

(b) What mountain roads in Switzerland do you never want to ride again?

(c) Valais / Wallis canton in southwest Switzerland has lots of spectacular mountains, and there are several roads that go up into them. Which of those roads could recommend for riding, like I'm looking for some nice views on the way up, maybe some cute villages to ride thru, some fun curvy sections on descent, not too much vehicle traffic.

(d) Gotthard / San Gottardo -- is there a way to ride across that pass without all those bumpy cobbles on the old road?

(e) Julier pass seems like a pretty pass, not amazingly spectacular but pleasant + pretty higher up when I've been over it on a car. But I've never ridden my bike over it because it seems to have lots of high-speed cars, and some trucks, because it's the shortest road between the Engadin valley and the autobahn + Zurich. Is there some way to work around that? (Albula pass was decent for riding, but I didn't like staring at the power transmission towers higher up).

(f) Lukmanier pass (Lucomagno) -- is it interesting to ride?

Thanks for the help and ideas,

Ken

I rode the Julier pass on the 8th September. Traffic was not very heavy. It was a petty strenuous climb, from Bivio to the Pass. I liked the route from Chur to Bivio more than the climbing from Bivio to the Pass. Indeed not very spectacular.
At the moment I'm very curious about the Splügen Pass. That was my alternative to go to Bergamo. And I already saw some blog with spectacular reports and photos (Via Mala)

I rode the Julier pass on the 8th September . . . Indeed not very spectacular.
Thanks for the assessment -- maybe Julier just isn't going to feel worth it for me.


At the moment I'm very curious about the Splügen Pass. That was my alternative to go to Bergamo. And I already saw some blog with spectacular reports and photos (Via Mala)

via Mala may be scenic, but a web search found a couple of bad reports about riding the southern side.

Ken

I rode the main road upfrom Aigle to Leysin a couple of times, Canton Vaud.
Really beatuful, and in Spring. My favourite time to go riding.
Only thing i didnt like was the higher i got, the more crazy the drivers became....

I rode the main road upfrom Aigle to Leysin a couple of times, Canton Vaud.
Really beatuful, and in Spring. My favourite time to go riding.
Only thing i didnt like was the higher i got, the more crazy the drivers became....
Yeah it seemed to me that the road up from Aigle gets lots of vehicle traffic -- an obvious car + truck route from the Geneva + Lausanne + Rhone valley to the Gstaad and Interlaken regions.

And I do think spring is the prettiest season for riding in the mountains -- and lots of other places. (My conflict is that it's also a great time for ski randonnee / backcountry ski mountaineering tours up in the mountains.)

Ken

(d) Gotthard / San Gottardo -- is there a way to ride across that pass without all those bumpy cobbles on the old road?

(f) Lukmanier pass (Lucomagno) -- is it interesting to ride?


d) You can use the "new" street on the south side of the Gotthard, it is a bit easier and more regular to ride. All the car traffic passes here, though. See profiles:
"new street": http://www.salite.ch/sangotta1.asp?Mappa=http://map.search.ch/airolo
"old street (Tremola)": http://www.salite.ch/sangotta2.asp?Mappa=http://map.search.ch/airolo

f) Lucomagno IMO is very nice, ascent from both sides is easy, compared with other passes:
http://www.salite.ch/lucomagn1.asp?Mappa=http://map.search.ch/disentis-muster
http://www.salite.ch/lucomagn2.asp?Mappa=http://map.search.ch/olivone

www.salite.ch (http://www.salite.ch) gives profiles for almost all "serious" slopes/ascents/passes in Europe (search with the italian names if available).

Regards

d) You can use the "new" street on the south side of the Gotthard, it is a bit easier and more regular to ride. All the car traffic passes here, though.
Thanks -- I'll try the new road sometime when I think the traffic will be lower.
(But doesn't lots of the traffic go a third way: thru the big tunnel?)


f) Lucomagno IMO is very nice, ascent from both sides is easy, compared with other passes.
I'll take a closer look at it.


www.salite.ch (http://www.salite.ch) gives profiles for almost all "serious" slopes/ascents/passes in Europe
Yes I think that's a helpful website. Though the profiles are not always fully accurate (e.g. Monte Zoncolan west side from Ovaro) -- but then no website I know has reliably accurate elevation profiles. Because reliably measuring the steepness of a curvy steep road takes lots of careful work -- and getting reliable accuracy is just not worth it for the purpose of cycling.

Ken

Awesome! My favorite topic of Swiss mountain roads :) Let me try to tackle some of your questions.


(a) What is your favorite high road or pass to ride? What is it that you like so much about that one?

That is difficult, there are a lot of nice ones. Of the major ones, the Furka pass from the west side is possibly my favorite. There are a lot of more minor ones that are very nice, including Col du Sanetsch (http://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?Col=Col-du-Sanetsch&qryMountainID=5309) and Les Agites (http://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?Col=Les-Agites&qryMountainID=7718). You can only ride up the Col du Sanetsch from the south side (from Sion) but there is a cable car at the top that you can ride down the north side with your bike to the village of Gsteig.


(b) What mountain roads in Switzerland do you never want to ride again?

The Grand St Bernard, coming from the North side, was probably the worst pass that I've done. Lots of traffic, and several kilometres in covered "galleries".


(c) Valais / Wallis canton in southwest Switzerland has lots of spectacular mountains, and there are several roads that go up into them. Which of those roads could recommend for riding, like I'm looking for some nice views on the way up, maybe some cute villages to ride thru, some fun curvy sections on descent, not too much vehicle traffic.

See my above comments on the Col du Sanetsch. I've also done the road up to Leukerbad, which was pretty fun, and there are roads that avoid the main road for large parts which were really good riding. I did the road to Fafleralp (Loetschental), that wasn't so nice, but my opinion may have been affected by the weather not being ideal and not getting the full views that may have otherwise been possible. However, I think there were lots of the cute villages in that valley IIRC.


(d) Gotthard / San Gottardo -- is there a way to ride across that pass without all those bumpy cobbles on the old road?

As mentioned above, about one third or half of the way up on the south side, you can leave the old partly-cobbled road to join the newer road to go over the top. As well as avoiding the cobbles, the newer road is also a couple of kms longer and so is less steep. I rode it late in the day on a weekday in July and the traffic was pretty light. There is indeed a tunnel that most of the traffic on this route uses, but there is still a lot of tourist traffic that drives over the top.

Aigle-Leysin was also mentioned above. I know this route very well because it is very close to me. I no longer do the climb between Aigle and Le Sepey when I have a choice because it is very busy - it is carrying all of the traffic for Leysin, Les Diablerets (and onto Col du Pillon), and Col des Mosses. Once the road splits at Le Sepey and just after, each of the three roads becomes a lot more pleasant due to the decrease in traffic as it is divided between them. I think the nicest ride in that region is Col de la Croix - on the east side its a little busy until Villars, but if you go up from Bex instead of Ollon then there is slightly less traffic, the ride up the west side from Les Diablerets is virtually traffic-free and very pleasant.
Note that Col de la Croix only opens once the snow has melted, usually in May. See here (http://www.tcs.ch/main/fr/home/verkehrsinfo/paesse_tunnels.html) to check which passes are currently open.

You may be interested in some of the cycling discussions that happen at EnglishForum.ch - a forum for English-speaking people in Switzerland. There is some general information in the "Cycling in Switzerland (http://www.englishforum.ch/sports-fitness/9793-cycling-switzerland.html)" thread and specific route info in the Road Cycling Routes (http://www.englishforum.ch/sports-fitness/24829-road-cycling-routes-route-discussions-another-thread.html) thread.

Enjoy the riding!

Col du Sanetsch ... You can only ride up the Col du Sanetsch from the south side (from Sion) but there is a cable car at the top that you can ride down the north side with your bike to the village of Gsteig.
Thanks for the idea. I guess another way would be to ride a loop clockwise thru Bex and over Col de la Croix + Pillon, then take the lift from Gsteig up to Col du Sanetsch, and ride down to Sion. Or does the Sanetsch road just work better in the uphill direction?


Les Agites
I hadn't heard of that one before. Looks like it goes around the west side of the Tour d'Ai (which has a via ferrata climb which I might want to try sometime). Seems like it might have some views of Lac Leman? and pretty light traffic on some weekdays?


I've also done the road up to Leukerbad, which was pretty fun, and there are roads that avoid the main road for large parts which were really good riding.
Until you mentioned it, I hadn't noticed those side roads as a possibility.


See here (http://www.tcs.ch/main/fr/home/verkehrsinfo/paesse_tunnels.html) to check which passes are currently open.
Thanks -- that's a very helpful page. Since I think one of the best times to ride the high passes is in late spring early summer when there's lots of snow, finding out exactly which passes are already open is important.


The Grand St Bernard, coming from the North side, was probably the worst pass that I've done.
Yes I can see how that could be bad. I certainly will not ever ride uphill in the traffic on the main road from Martigny to Orsieres -- especially since it was so pretty to ride to Orsieres by climbing over Champex. Once I did start from Orsieres very early in the morning and climbed up the north side of Grand St Bernard, and for some reason there wasn't much traffic. So it felt fairly comfortable for me, and it was nice to look ahead to views of the snowy north side of the Grand Combin peak. But I doubt I'd try it later in the day - (and I imagine the traffic was especially bad during the long period when the Mont Blanc tunnel was closed after that fire)

Thanks for all the ideas -- hope I get back there on my bike soon.

Ken

You may be interested in some of the cycling discussions that happen at EnglishForum.ch - a forum for English-speaking people in Switzerland. There is some general information in the "Cycling in Switzerland (http://www.englishforum.ch/sports-fitness/9793-cycling-switzerland.html)" thread and specific route info in the Road Cycling Routes (http://www.englishforum.ch/sports-fitness/24829-road-cycling-routes-route-discussions-another-thread.html) thread.
Yes lots of helpful route ideas and cycling info there -- much of it contributed by Chris W himself -- Thanks.

Ken

Thanks for the idea. I guess another way would be to ride a loop clockwise thru Bex and over Col de la Croix + Pillon, then take the lift from Gsteig up to Col du Sanetsch, and ride down to Sion. Or does the Sanetsch road just work better in the uphill direction?

I've never ridden down the Col du Sanetsch, but I don't remember any section that would make me not want to do so. However, I prefer to spend the time climbing because you can see more that way. Col de la Croix and Pillon are both nice, but not as great as Col du Sanetsch. I think I'd use the train to get between Sion and Bex if possible. If you do ride that stretch, then clockwise may not be the best direction - there can be some serious winds that pick up in the valley, especially between Bex and Martigny, and they normally blow from the north in my experience. However, although the Rhone valley is relatively heavily populated, there are quite a lot of direct side roads that make for good riding.


I hadn't heard of that one before. Looks like it goes around the west side of the Tour d'Ai (which has a via ferrata climb which I might want to try sometime). Seems like it might have some views of Lac Leman? and pretty light traffic on some weekdays?

That's right, the Les Agites climb heads around to the back (north face) of "The Two Tours" to a dammed reservoir, Lac de l'Hongrin. Shortly after coming out of the tunnel near the top of the climb (see below) you get awesome views across Lac Leman (Lake Geneva).

I think the road ALWAYS has pretty light traffic. However, note the following restrictions: Beyond the top of the pass, the road is closed Monday to Friday from, I think, about 09:00 until about 16:30, due to military training, except during all of July and the first half of August, when it is open all the time. Furthermore, due to the narrow road, and an even narrower tunnel (probably about 500m long), the road is restricted to one-way traffic just before the top, between kms 12 and 13 when starting from Aigle; traffic going up may only enter this zone between :00 and :15 past each hour, traffic going down may only enter this zone between :30 and :45 past each hour.

Once over the top, and after riding past the reservoir, you can head right to connect to the north side of Col des Mosses, or keep going around the reservoir to the east end of the dam and take the small road down to Montbovon, the first part of which is completely closed to motorized vehicles.

If you want to make it a really epic ride, then head north from Montbovon for about 5km, then turn left just before the village of Neirivue into a side valley. After a few kms, the road you're on will split into two, with the right branch going towards Plan Maro, and I'm not sure what the left branch is signposted as, but that is the one you want - it will take you further up into the valley heading west. There is no road pass over the top, but you can take an easy hiking trail over the top for about 1 km, heading toward "Belle Chaux" I believe (at about 1500m altitude). At the top, you hit the road that goes to Chatel St Denis, and from there you can roll down to Vevey on Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) if you wish. The climb is possibly harder than the ride up to Les Agites, with sustained sections of around 15% gradient. There will be no-one in the side valley except you and a few surprised farmers. It's all paved except for that 1km hike at the top, the second half of which is easy enough that I got back on the bike and rode it without any trouble (on a straight-bar road bike with 32mm tires).

Les Agites climb . . .
If you want to make it a really epic ride, then head north from Montbovon for about 5km, then turn left just before the village of Neirivue into a side valley . . .
That does sound like the sort of adventure I'd enjoy - (I've taken my road bike over Col du Grand Ferret, and would do that again) - but the navigation looks tricky on the (large-scale) maps I've got.

Are those little place names shown on the "108 Gruyère - Le Léman" composite 1:100000 map? - (because I don't have a copy of that)

Ken

Are those little place names shown on the "108 Gruyère - Le Léman" composite 1:100000 map? - (because I don't have a copy of that)

The 1:100,000 composite maps are the ones that I always use. Map 108 was probably the map I used for that ride because it covered it all. Alternatively, the Les Agites climb is on Map 105, and the route from Montbovon to Chatel St. Denis is on Map 104.

I was reading about the Col du Grand Ferret earlier this year, but never made it up there. Hopefully, I'll get to tackle that next summer.

The 1:100,000 composite maps are the ones that I always use. Map 108 was probably the map I used for that ride because it covered it all. Alternatively, the Les Agites climb is on Map 105, and the route from Montbovon to Chatel St. Denis is on Map 104.
OK, I've put 108 and 105 on my shopping list.


I was reading about the Col du Grand Ferret ...
My experience is that it forms really sticky mud up high (in my case from a little fresh snow that melted) -- so catch it when it's dry.

Ken