Imagine if someone came up with the idea of building a road in the middle of the Alps just for tourist pleasure. Unimaginable? Well, in the late 1930s, Swiss authorities decided to do just that: build a contemporary road over the Susten Pass.
This story about the Susten appeared in the “Passportrait” series in MOTORRAD, Europe’s largest motorbike magazine, issue 25.2021 (November). The Passportrait is a collaboration between Uli from www.moppetfoto.de and myself.
Before you read, please note: this blog post was translated with the help of Deepl.
If you find any errors – please have fun first and then give me a hint if you don’t mind.
Until then a rather insignificant path, the Susten Pass has led from the foot of the Gotthard Pass over to the Haslital since 1946. On the opening Sunday, 15,000 vehicles crossed it – that was 12 % of all cars registered in Switzerland at the time. That is indeed unimaginable today …
Nature did not make it easy for the people who built here, yet it bent. Dark tunnels winding into the mountain and stone bridges stuck between the rock walls allow the journey from Wassen over the deep gorge of the Meienreuss. Massive concrete galleries stand in the way of avalanches, lean on the rock, struggle for support. Involuntarily, shoulders go up as you pass through, hoping that nothing comes from above, because that would never be a good thing.
Dream Road Susten Pass – we start in Wassen
A brief moment before, a last look back into the Reuss valley is possible, at more grey and crude constructions, thrown wildly and painfully into the area – on top of them a colourful mass of sheet metal, making no headway on its way south. A technology overkill of cars and railways, stretching over and dissecting invisibly beautiful villages in this narrow valley, reaches up to Göschenen and squeezes through the Schöllenen gorge to Andermatt.
A few bends after the rough protective galleries, a completely contrasting landscape takes over. The rock here is also grey, rises pale into the air and appears strangely vertically folded. It allows green moss to grow on top of it, is framed by tall trees, and its countless crevices open the way for foaming water to rush down to the valley. Huge herds of sheep and goats roam the slopes, providing raw materials for the many farm shops with their cheese counters in the valley.
Dream Road Susten Pass – On the way to the heights
As tough as the climb at Wassen and the ride over dizzying viaducts were, the road now swings unspectacularly through the Meien valley, allowing you to cruise in the really big gears. The surface is even and level, the curbs set with Swiss precision, even the flush-fitting manhole covers are somehow beautiful.
A special breed of people lives here. While hundreds of motorcyclists celebrate this road-building art obliquely and loudly, the farmers rake their steep meadows unimpressed and pick up lost blades of grass from the roadside.
At the head of the valley, sharp-edged rock needles pierce the sky; on the left, a vertical mountain slope dropping into nothingness poses the question that huge moraines at its foot answer. Even at the beginning of July, shimmering blue ice and snow coloured by Saharan sand lie in immense rock basins, once nurseries of prehistoric glaciers. A stone amphitheatre for impressive natural dramas.
The last hairpin bends surprise neither with narrow courses nor with challenging gradients. Only the view down into the depths through the Bündnerzaun, this narrow-hipped road boundary, can irritate nerves – but before respect for the abysses takes over, the crest tunnel of the Sustenpass spits its visitors up to the top of the pass. In the shadow of numerous 3000-metre peaks, an incomparable panorama opens up with views of the mighty Steingletscher glacier, its meltwater lake and the mountain giants flanking it.
Dream Road Susten Pass – The last bend
The intention to make the Susten Pass an unforgettable tourist experience becomes tangible for motorcyclists in the even radii down into the Gadmen valley. When laying out the route, the size and turning circle of the luxury cars of the time were obviously taken as the yardstick – they allowed no surprises in the routing, no tightening bends and no narrow sections where oncoming traffic would have to back up.
The routing allows for relaxed surfing on first-class road surfaces. The bends are elevated throughout, which takes a little of the thrill out of riding at an angle on the edge of the abyss, and if a rocky edge somewhere would have required a more brusque, hooky line, the designers simply sliced right through it.
As on the Uri side, bare rock spans the traveller in the tunnels of the Bernese ramp, mighty waterfalls provide intoxicating background music while you peer through the holes in the mountain in the light of the sliding glaciers.
We wouldn’t be in Switzerland if we didn’t place the highest value on good looks: there are no crash barriers on the edges of the 80-year-old road that disfigure everything, rust and dent themselves in contact with the enemy. Anyone who involuntarily leaves his motorbike becomes a stone biter, has the choice between a rock wall or one of the boundary stones. Sheet metal underride protection on metal supports would be a sacrilege on this stony landscape.
Dreamlike motorcycling – on the Susten Pass
And: we wouldn’t be in Switzerland if the Postbus didn’t take up its width. So when its horn sounds, there is a lot to be said for using one of the many – naturally – stone-framed panorama parking spaces.
The Susten Pass, which is exhilarating to drive, plays all the parts in the scenic experience: huge mountain ranges flank the Gadmental. Almost kitschy, beautifully tended meadows reach to the edge of the road, and short sections of the road, bridges and viaducts can be seen again and again in the dense forest.
It’s best to turn around in Innertkirchen and go up again. Because it was not only an impressive experience in earlier years to ride this way over the mountains – it still is today!
Dream Road Susten Pass – Once more!
The 2224 m high Susten Pass in central Switzerland connects the cantons of Uri and Bern. It is 46 km long and has its starting point in Innertkirchen in the west and in Wassen in the east. Spectacular in terms of construction and with sensational panoramas, it leads through the Meien and Gadmen valleys and offers 23 hairpin bends to negotiate.
The reasons for its construction were of a touristic and also military nature. Great importance was attached to embedding the structure as well as possible in the landscape. The retaining walls are covered with natural stones and the road has as many tunnels, rock passages, bridges and viewing areas as possible. There is even an artificial waterfall in the upper course.
The Susten can be combined with the Grimsel and Furka for an entertaining tour. The Oberalp and Gotthard are in the immediate vicinity, too.
Thank-Yous, High-Fives & Links
- Hotel Restaurant Urweider, Innertkirchen
For the accommodation during the production of this portrait, the absolutely sensational catering and all the information about the passes around Innertkirchen - Country Road Alpnach – Zero Zentralschweiz
For the bikes, the technical support and Isa – thank you for your modelling!
