Cobbles on a mountain pass? Must be the Gotthard...
From the rejuvenated village of Andermatt, we tuck into the Gotthard Challenge, a legendary loop of three gruelling Alpine mountain passes
What are we thinking about tomorrow’s route? Do you think it will take us four, five hours?” my colleague asked me, over a pre-dinner pint in early July about the following day’s ride. It would take in the climbs of the Furka, Nufenen and Gotthard passes, one on top the other. Here it’s called the ‘Gotthard Challenge’. I motioned my head upwards, in the universal signal for ‘more’.
“I’m just checking Strava and there’s an E Bernal who’s done it in three hours. Have we heard of this guy? Maybe five is doable.”
“That’s Egan Bernal. He rides for Team Ineos. He’s quite probably the best climber in the world and is the bookie’s favourite for the Tour de France,” I said. “He must have done that ride in the Tour de Suisse, which he won. If we did it in double his time we’d have had a strong day.”
Three is the magic number
The triple whammy of the Furka Pass, Nufenen Pass and Gotthard Pass has few equals anywhere in Europe: around 100km, three major passes, and descents, elevation gain like it’s going out of fashion and no flat whatsoever. A proper, full-fat day on the bike, but not so long that it’s going to bully you into a headlock. You can go to plenty of places in Europe and do a similar trio of climbs, but you’ll either not finish where you began, rack up a soul-destroying volume of kilometres, or it simply just won’t be as pretty as here.
You could, theoretically, do this ride in either direction. Anti-clockwise is by far the better choice, however; while the Gotthard Pass is significantly paved with cobblestones on either side, there are far more on the southern side than the northern (around 7km of the 12.7km southern side is cobbled, including the final 5km). As cobbles go they are exquisitely maintained (you’d never know this road was built in 1832 – on the Paris-Roubaix measuring scale, this is a 1* section). Still, you wouldn’t want to descend it, particularly in the wet. It’d be an ice rink.
You could also start this ride in a number of places along the route: in Airolo on the southern side of the Gotthard; or, as Bernal did with the Tour de Suisse peloton, on the western side of the Nufenen in Ulrichen. But we were in Andermatt, in the Ursern Valley two hours’ drive south of Zurich, as we’d been invited by the village to check out what is a place well into a hefty £1.44bn transformation.
The first – and last – time I visited Andermatt was in 2014, during the first Haute Route Dolomites Swiss Alps stage race. It was the host
This triple whammy of passes has few equals anywhere in Europe
town between stages 5 and 6 (of 7), and we finished stage 5 coming down into town off the Oberalp Pass, and left the following day up a cold and entirely fog-shrouded Furka Pass. Oberalp is one of four major climbs springing, if not always directly, at least closely out of Andermatt, along with Susten, Furka and Gotthard. The village didn’t leave much of an impact on me then, though this is typical of the Haute Route. You stay in each stage town for one night, and it’s all recovery, recovery, recovery. You’re usually fast asleep by 9pm. The tourist thing, it is not.
New investment
It felt like a small, even ordinary Alpine village, not unattractive (how could it be, in this setting, with mountains in all directions) but rather unassuming. There are acclaimed, swanky resorts in Switzerland, like St Moritz and Gstaad, with a huge history in winter and summer sports, but Andermatt was never that. For years it was a military base, but around the turn of this century cuts were made to the army and training centres, like the one here, which meant the village’s main source of wealth disappeared, and its population slumped. Enter Egyptian billionaire Samih Sawiris. With his experience in building holiday resorts, he was invited here in 2005 to advise the village on how to rebuild.
The story goes he was so enamoured with the place (“unadulterated natural beauty,” he says) that he decided to get involved through both personal investment and that of his company Orascom Development Holdings. Nearly 15 years later, despite a slow start after going public with his plans, its renewal continues apace. Eight apartment blocks (with 191 apartments) have been built alongside the 4* Radisson Blue, The Chedi Andermatt 5* deluxe hotel, a golf course, revamped ski area and concert hall. Planning permission remains for a further 34 apartments for a total of 500.
The Andermatt Reuss area, the site of much of the development across the main road from the town, is impressive, with the apartments – designed in the style of Swiss architecture from across the country – tightly packed to give a neighbourhood feel, with all vehicles in a vast underground car park. The apartments are for sale, starting from 323,000 Swiss Francs (£258,000). There have been concerns that this was a development for the rich, with a lack of affordable accommodation (the most expensive apartments cost £1.2m and chalets are at £4.2m). But owners are encouraged to rent them back to holidaymakers, so that Andermatt isn’t left deserted when their owners head back home.
Even with structural development on such a scale, the lure of Andermatt will always be found
A proper, full-fat day on the bike, but not so long that it’s going to bully you into a headlock
This being Switzerland, there’s no particularly easy sections or out-of-the-saddle tough bits, just a gnawing slope where the only variable is the altitude
in its natural beauty. The opening salvo in the Gotthard Challenge is the Furka Pass, well known to pro cycling fans – and James Bond aficionados. The climb was the location for a set piece in the third Bond film, Goldfinger (1964), where Tilly Masterson (portrayed by actress Tania Mallet) attempts to shoot the eponymous villain from high up on one of the Furka’s distinct clutch of switchbacks. She actually comes closer to hitting Sean Connery’s Bond, who’s also watching Goldfinger. He trails Masterson down the pass and a chase ensues, with Bond shredding her tyres with a revolving saw from his hub caps, as only Bond could. The scene jumps around various locations across the whole pass, ending where the climbing for this ride is just about to begin, beside the rail track in Realp.
Hell of a climb
This was the second time I’d ridden the Furka, the fourth highest paved road in Switzerland at 2431m. The weather at the start wasn’t quite as much of a pea-souper as it was during that horribly cold European summer of 2014 when I last did it, but conditions were such that I’d ordinarily be still in bed if I wasn’t on the clock. The same could be said for my ride partner Kurt Gisler, although as a local mountain biker he’d at least be out riding, just on the trails rather than the road. At least I had more than 5m visibility, as per 2014, though there’s an ignorance-is-bliss feeling to tackling a 12.3km, 893m col when you can’t see far beyond your nose. It turns out that beyond a couple of densely packed hairpins near the bottom and summit, there are some horribly long, straight sections that make you mentally suffer. Counting the pass’s stone bollards, spaced sporadically and the height of ineffectiveness if you ask me when it comes to keeping you away from the precipice, is one way to ease the pain.
Over the top, the road is stretched out and doesn’t have quite the wild feel of the Realp side, though be sure to have a glance over your right shoulder near the village of Gletsch for a stunning view of the sheer rock face below the vanishing Rhône Glacier, the source of the mighty Rhône River that stretches 813km to the Mediterranean west of Marseille – now that’s a great idea for a ride… Also check out the nowclosed Hotel Belvédère, close to the summit, which also featured in Goldfinger.
On another day, there’s a right-hander to be made just over the bridge in Gletsch, which would take you up the spaghetti switchbacks of the Grimsel Pass (2165m) – via the Susten Pass (2260m), it offers an alternative route back to base in Andermatt. Our route took us further into the valley to Ulrichen, which, with a left-hander this time, begins the slow grind up the Nufenen – the highest paved pass in Switzerland – which at 2478m has less than an Olympic swimming pool’s length over the Furka.
No matter how hard the first climb is in a three-climb triumvirate like this, it’s still the first climb. You’ll pant hard, your heart rate will soar, but you’ll get up there just fine. It’ll probably be early in the day so it won’t yet have warmed up, so heat won’t be an issue, and neither will the various bodily limiters be rampant, restraining progress like a lasso round your waist. But that’s what happens on climb two, especially when it’s a rotter like the Nufenen. Or the Nurofen, as it was christened on my previous visit here.
West side story
From Ulrichen, in the west, is the tougher side of the Nufenen – 13.3km at 8.5 per cent all told. This being Switzerland, the land of ultra-engineered roads, there’s no particularly easy sections or out-of-the-saddle tough bits (10 per cent is the max here), just a gnawing slope where the only variable is the altitude. Enjoy the bridge, at around 4km, as this is the only let-up on the climb. Forty-four minutes is the extent of the time in which Bernal dispatched the Nufenen and at a sprightly 298 watts he still barely broke sweat. It took us almost two hours, the moisture tumbling from my face in a current like that of the river coming down the Nufenen.
The summit takes you into the canton of Ticino, an Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, and down a whopping 24km descent into Airolo. There are 26 cantons, or states, in the country, and this ride includes three: Uri, where we started in Andermatt, and Valais, over the Furka summit.
To take the name of the Gotthard Challenge the Gotthard itself must be something special, given what’s gone before, and it doesn’t disappoint.
The summit has plenty of places to refuel or simply rejoice in a terrific job well done
to understand what makes the Gotthard such a joyous experience you need to know what’s going on around and beneath it.
Aside from the National Road 2 that swallows much of the traffic heading over the pass, there’s the Gotthard Road Tunnel, the Gotthard Rail Tunnel and the recently opened Gotthard Base Tunnel, which, at 57km, is the longest rail tunnel in the world. That leaves the old Tremola road, as the cobbled Gotthard Pass is known, to be savoured in relative sanctuary. Of course, you get the odd motorbike convoy or car club, but throw in cyclists and the odd horse and cart tour and it all adds to the spirit and uniqueness of this wonderful climb. Its 12.7km at 7.3 per cent, to a summit of 2091m, with the most tightly packed switchbacks I’ve ever ridden near the summit. It’s easier on paper than what’s come before, but the cobblestones are the wildcard here. Short on time, we’d jumped into photographer Joe’s van in Airolo until the cobbles started in earnest, only to be busted by a touring group of Cycling Plus readers, laden with gear. “Are you going to write that you were bussed halfway up?!’ said one. I guess we’ll have to now, I thought.
The summit has plenty of places to refuel or simply rejoice in a terrific job well done, with only the descent into Andermatt to go. We might have spent twice the time here of E Bernal but, in my book, that’s twice the fun.