Switzerland: Bernese Oberland

No other place in the Bernese Oberland has been so much the arena of human feats and the scene of unprecedented tragedies as the mighty, almost vertical north face of the Eiger. Like a wall, interrupted only by the Upper and Lower Grindelwald Glacier, the Eiger and the other four thousand metre high peaks of the Bernese Alps draw a dividing line between the lovely alpine meadows in the north and the glaciers in the south, between gentle nature and mighty scenery. Down below, in the wide valley basin of the municipality of Grindelwald, the dimensions of the mountains shift every usual scale. Against their backdrop, everything else seems miniaturised. Mountain farmland, spick and span and organised like the art world of a Märklin railway.
Racing cyclists are already denied the Kleine Scheidegg, no tarmac road leads to where the north faces of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau are close enough to touch. But on the little road up to the nearby Berghotel Männlich, you can get almost as close to the flanks of the famous Dreigestein. Soon after the village, the 15-kilometre road is closed to motorised traffic; only mountain farmers with a special permit are allowed to drive up to the mountain pastures and cattle. The road is so narrow that no two cars can fit next to each other, even for bikes and cars it is narrow in some places. And steep: hardly a section climbs at less than twelve per cent. Flat sections to catch your breath? Not a chance.

You can find these routes in the PDF download:

1st lake view
(76 kilometres, 1,450 metres in altitude, maximum gradient twelve percent)
Interlaken - Leissigen - Kratigen - Aeschi - Spiez - Riederen - Thun - Schwendi - Sigriswil - Beatenberg - Interlaken

2. get to the glaciers
(85 kilometres, 1,460 metres in altitude, maximum gradient 18 percent)
Brienz - Unterbach - Willigen - Große Scheidegg - Grindelwald (variant Berghotel Männlichen: 31 kilometres, 1,280 metres in altitude) - Wilderswil - Bönigen - Interlaken - Brienz

3. a matter of faith
(133 kilometres, 3,010 metres in altitude, maximum gradient twelve percent)
Brienz - Ballenberg - Brünig Pass - Giswil - Sarnen - Glaubenberg Pass - Entlebuch - Schüpfheim - Sörenberg - Glaubenbüelen Pass - Giswil - Brünig Pass - Brienz

4. three-way pass
(145 kilometres, 3,480 vertical metres, maximum gradient 11 percent)
Brienz - Innertkirchen - Grimsel Pass - Gletsch - Furka Pass - Andermatt - Wassen - Susten Pass - Innertkirchen - Brienz

Downloads:
PDF: Switzerland: Bernese Oberland