The Furkapass to Haute-Nendaz

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It was only when we got out of bed this morning that we discovered just how stiff our legs and muscles were after yesterdays hike up Mount Hochfluh.
However we have a drive ahead of us today that will take us over another alpine pass and thankfully that will probably mean that we will be spending a good part of the day in RR.
D & S were up early and had breakfast on the table for us.Di said she was feeling the walk from yesterday but was OK.While we were having breakfast we had a phone call come in from our flamingo friends in Tauranga NZ,Ruth and Owen and it was great talking to them and hearing their voices after we have been away from home for so long.
We had thought we might call into Luzern as we drove south to spend a bit of time taking in the old city architecture but as we headed down route #25 we kept going for Zug thinking that our drive up the apline pass that was in our sights for later in the day might take a good amount of time.And anyway the fog was right down on the lake and we would probably have more scenery in view once we got away from the lakes.
Route # 2 down to Altdorf was very interesting and the fog had lifted enough to get great views of the towering mountains rising from the lake.
As lunchtime approached we were looking for a lunch stop and as we emerged from a road tunnel there was a Burger King restaurant to fit the bill.
The road after lunch followed a gorge and mistakenly we got ourselves onto a motorway(we didn';t ahve a vignette required to drive on motorways) and when we realised our mistake we got off at the next exit which was just as well as we could have ended up on the wrong road through the St Gotthard Tunnel and going in the wrong direction if we hadn't switched to the local road.
The road climbed sharply up the mountain with a rail line running alongside with a cog system necessary to control the train ascent/descent.On the other side of the road was an alpine river with huge boulders in it and ice blue glacial water tumbling down through them.All around the mountains soared above the narrow gorge valley.
It was clear that this road was one that motorcylists got a thrill out of by riding because as we stopped at one point we noticed several coming down at break neck speed leaning in on the tight corners.
The road plateaued and we drove across another valley with the Furkapass ahead of us.The scenery all around us was so spectacular that we could have stayed there and just soaked it all in.The weather had cleared fully now of the fog that we had driven through around the lakes and the tops of the snow covered mountains could be seen quite clearly together with glaciers that seemed to flow from most of them.Again we were in another photogenic paradise and Gretchen tooks heaps of photos and the video ran hot.
We drove across the valley steadily getting closer to where the road became to climb up the side of the mountain with several hairpins taking the road to the pass itself.
This road was quite different to the Grossglocknerstrasse Pass that we had crossed in Austria a couple of weeks back although it was a similar height above sea level at 2431 metres or 7975 feet.On the Furkapass there was no snow at road level but the climb to the top was much sharper than the Austrian pass with far more hairpins to negotiate.The traffic was heavier as well and with the road narrowing in many parts Gretchen had to change gears regularly to slow to pass the downhill traffic with care not to get to close to the edge particulary when we were on the outside of the road with just an almost sheer drop to the valley far far below.
And all the while she had to deal with motor cyclists who were treating the road as a racetrack and also the other cyclists on their mountain bikes making their way slowly up the hill hogging the road especially when it was narrow.
We were both pleased when the road had us on the mountain side as we journeyed ever upwards and not so pleased when we were on the outside with just a concrete block between us and the drop into the valley.For most of the way there were just concrete blocks at intervals of about 2 metres rather than a continuos barrier that we would have rather had.
At the top of the pass as the road plateaued for a few hundred metres we took a break to admire the view as we were now much closer to the snow and the glaciers than we had been at the bottom of the pass looking upwards.
We didn't think the road down on the other side would be as scenic but in reality we were quite wrong.The drop down the other side was steeper in parts and the outlook more expansive with another pass,the Grimselpass heading up a mountain side at right angles towards Interlaken, at the bottom of the Furkapass.
About a third of the way down we took one of numerous stops to take in a view over an area that many years ago had been a glacier.All that was left now was a sharp drop to the valley with rock sides that had been worn smooth by the ice travelling slowly over them.We guess that global warming has had something to do with the demise of this glacier.
While we waiting to cross back over the road to RR three Lotus sports cars came speeding down the road barely slowing for the hairpin turn we were on waiting to cross to the other side.We were glad we weren't on the road while these maniacs were racing each other.!!!
Once we reached Gletsch the road flattened out but still had a few hairpins before we made the valley that the Rhone River flows in.
From here we passed through a number of small Swiss towns with their large houses bedecked with colourful window boxes of red geraniums.
The road flattened out more when we reached the large town of Brig at the foot of the Simplonpass which we plan to drive in two days time when we head over to Italy for a night.All along route #9 aftyer Brig there were small settlements clearly within view high up on the mountain side with a rail line running several hundred metres up from the floor of the valley.The trains on the line appeared to be quite frequent and reminded us of the trains you see in a model train layout as they were dwarfed by the sheer size of the mountain side they were travelling against.
As we got closer to Sion we entered an area where vineyards were in profusion on the mountain side some in places that looked almost impossible to get into and maintain and harvest the grapes.We were to find out later that this part of the large valley has a special microclimate with up to 300 days of sunshine a year allowing grapes to be sucessfully grown.
At Sion we turned off the road we had been travelling for the past 2 hours and headed up the mountain side towards the winter ski resort area of Nendaz and our accommodation for the night.It didn't look far on our atlas map but as the road was required to travel it was over 15km as the road twisted and turned through a relatively built up area with small settlements virtually joining each other.
We didn't have a good handle on exactly where our accommodation was but as we neared the main Nendaz village we spotted the Toko Lounge sign and pulled into the car park.
We were shown to our room which had a majestic view up a fair chunk of the valley we had been travelling earlier.With the height we had climbed from the valley floor at 1600 metres above sea level we felt we were on top of the world although of course the mountains still rose above us.
Todays trip across the Furkapass had been a spectacular trip and now ranks up there with the Dalmation coast,Austrian Alps and other roads we have travelled.It is getting harder to see where these drives can be topped....but we shall see!!

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Comments

[R & O]

Those poor muscles !!
You will be able to run up our" mount" when you get home.That train you saw would have been the Glacier Express which we went on.A much easier way to get up the mountains, lol. Really neat to relive our trip as we read your blogs. Looking forward to the next one !!! Take care.

[KJ]

Marvellous scenery
We have been closely following the trail up and down the mountain passes. It certainly is spectacular countryside-one shot reminded us very much of the landscape at the top of the Crown Range.Also keeping DD busy-sent her 20 pages of fax the other day with your travels!