Pass profile: Switzerland: Klausen Pass

The Klausen Pass, which connects the cantons of Glarus and Uri in central Switzerland, leads cyclists through a picture-book landscape of lush green alpine meadows and mighty rock faces. Nature creates a particularly impressive spectacle on the north-east ramp, where the Urnerboden basin opens up after the first steep hairpin bends - a valley floor almost eight kilometres long and the largest alpine pasture in the country, where almost a thousand large cattle graze. Vertical rock walls flank the trough valley, and at Jegerstöck on the right, the layers of rock lie on top of each other like pancakes. Straight as a die, you approach the head of the valley, a barrier with no way out. Apparently - because this is where the road builders have applied all their skills and stacked serpentines so tightly that they make the heart of every pass fan beat faster.

The panorama becomes more impressive curve by curve. At the top of the pass, the sign shows an altitude of 1,952 metres, four metres higher than the official national map.

In the free PDF download you will find the route to the west and north ramps.

Downloads:
PDF: Switzerland: Klausen Pass