| Re: Road Cycling Routes (route discussions are on another thread)
Grosse Scheidegg – from Meiringen
An excellent and challenging climb in one of the most beautiful and most famous areas in Switzerland. The scenery is beyond description for even Switzerland, looking up at Jungfrau and Eiger face as you ascend on your own power is simply amazing.
Date: Sunday, August 30th
Length: 17 km (to Grosse Scheidegg), 50 km to Interlaken, 80 km roundtrip (see comments on route to Brienz)
Time: 1.5 to 2.5 hours to Grosse Scheidegg, 4.5 hours round trip
Total Altitude climbed: 1,300 meters (pass only)
Difficulty: Hard
Ascents: Grosse Scheidegg 1954 meters
Traffic: Busy coming out of Meiringen, on the lower slopes some traffic, upper slopes virtually no traffic other than the official buses which can make life interesting
Transportation (from Zurich HB): Train to Luzern and transfer to Meiringen (about 2 hrs total)
Area: Bernese Oberland
Description in Detail:
The climbs just keep getting better and better. When I think there can’t be a climb better than this one, I find another that is even better. What makes this climb so great, is a combination of factors, the difficulty, there are some really steep sections, the relative lack of traffic, the very Swissness of the landscape but mostly that as you ascend the most famous high peaks of Switzerland are just above your head.
I woke up in the morning in Meiringen feeling less than ambitious, I had climbed the Grimsel pass the day before and suffered badly the whole climb (plus the traffic was near unbearable). But as the day was beautiful and the mountains were peering at me, I couldn’t fathom not giving it a go. My initial plan was to tackle the first part of Grosse Scheidegg and see if I wanted to press on. Headed out of Meiringen at 10 am towards Interkirchen and followed the cycling signs, I saw a sign maybe 0,5 kilometers out of town pointing me to Grosse Scheidegg, I started up this path, which was very steep, though the legs felt pretty good, after about 0.5 kilometers the road turned to gravel (this theme will return later). Oops, this was not the right way, a mountain biker directed me that the road was another 1.5 kilometers down the road so descended back down and headed again towards Interkirchen, at about the 2 kilometer there was a sign for Grosse Scheidegg on the right side of the road, immediately the climb begins on a road oddly enough called Scheidgeggstrase and you climb and climb, in the first 6.0 km’s you gain nearly 600 meters in altitude. The climb is on a very narrow ride (not like Grimselpass) and winds itself up through the forests. It is quite spectacular with waterfalls coming down on the right side of the road, I realize partway up that this is the famous waterfall where Sherlock Holmes fictionally died. I was hoping to avoid the same fate and this seemed likelyas my legs were feeling pretty good despite the steep gradient. And with these views, waterfall, forests and down to Meiringen, who could think about the pain. There was some traffic on this road and as it was a narrow road made for some interesting moments of having to get as right as possible as the cars (and a lot of SUV’s) tried to inch past you, and then there were the buses. There is a bus route from Grindelwald along this route and when the buses come up and down this road, there really isn’t room for a car and hardly a bike. One bus did stop to let me inch by him and for another I pulled off to the side to let it by. It wasn’t annoying but actually kind of funny. The climb continues on and on after about another 2 km’s of climbing flattens into a valley, near Rosenlai at about 1300 km this gives you a good chance to catch your breathe. There are a few steep climbs intermixed with some flat areas to catch your breathe over the next 3 k’s. The traffic at this point is considerable less and seems that the only people on the road are fellow cyclists, mostly on mountain bikes. The climb continues on to Schwarzwaldalp,where there is a restaurant if one needs to refuel and then the road continues on and on for the next 5.5 km where you ascend another 500 vertical meters on twisting roads. The scenery has now opened up and you have the famous mountains of Jungfrau including the famous Eiger Northface directly looking over your head. As I was currently reading the book (the White Spider), which inspired me to climb this route and which I would recommend for people who like to read adventure/climbing books, it is about the first ascents of the Eiger this was quite a sight. The scenery is utterly spectactular as you have mountains all around you. You struggle up the final very tough kilometer and can finally see the restaurant at top. I stopped and enjoyed the scenery and a quick cola.
The descent to Grindelwald is simply amazing. It is steep(over 10%), twisty and on average roads but really enjoyable especially as the peaks of the high mountains hang over your head. I wouldn’t advise going too fast as there often hikers on the road and the occasional bus to avoid. Once you get to Grindelwald, the descent becomes a lot less fun, at first I followed the cycling route signs (61) which was quite nice, on through Grindelwald, you take a left (there was some sort of festival going on where there had cattle, sheep etc in the middle of town) and follow the signs to Grindelwald Grund. After Grund, I continued to follow the cycling signs on to a bicycle path, the path turned to gravel, this is one of my pet annoyances in Switzerland, the cycling paths suddenly turn to gravel (more on this later), but thankfully in this case there was a bail out option as the main road down to Interlake was just a short ride away, I continue on descending to Interlaken, the road here is nothing special, a rather large road the scenery was not overly impressive and this portion of the descent seemed to go on forever, partly because I was descending into a headwind. Eventually, I hit the tourist mecca of Switzerland of Interlaken, not my favorite place in Switzerland and after dodging hordes of tourists and passing the legendary Interlaken Hooters, I grabbed a quick sandwich from a kiosk and decided to cycle back to Meiringen rather than take the train. I figured it would be an easy 29 kilometers along a lake and could practice my time-trialing skills. I was 100% wrong on that account. I followed the signs to Meiringen and the road become lovely as it ran along, arguably the most beautiful lake in Switzerland, BrienzerSee. After 5 kilometers, the first trouble started, there was climb 100 meters over 2 km’s, it wasn’t too bad but did a hurt some as my body was still expecting a smooth ride. The scenery got even better as you climbed up you had a beautiful view to the BrienzerSee and then a short descent past Iselwand, a little village that juts out into the Brienzer See, I continued on, and the next trouble began, another sign marking another climb, the sign said 5 kilometers, 150 meters, okay not too bad but it seemed much steeper than that. And then the big trouble began, the road turned to gravel, no, I was not in the mood for a cyclocross experience on my road bike but really had no choice as there was no bail out road, there was major highway running too far away but not suitable for cycles. So I pressed on, the road was okay at first but then the hardpacked gravel became loose rocks and the road was climbing rather steeply, the bike was vibrating all over the place and the back wheel would spin out as I tried to get out of the saddle a couple times, onward and upward the road climbed and road conditions kept getting worse, okay finally I have reached to top but then things got worse, the descent was clearly not for a road bike, and the signs said that cyclists should get off the bike and walk the next half kilometer, I could barely walk down the slope in my cycling shoes without slidng. The road turned back into concrete and eventually met up with a road for cars. Finally, I had reach Brienz after a nice winding descent, the rest of the path was a more or less flat sprint for 10 kilometers along a cycling path back to Meiringen.
There is supposedly another cycling trail on the other side of the Brienzer See, but I cannot confidently say whether it is better for a road bike. The route on the right side of the Brienzer See (coming from Interlaken) I would not recommend for a road bike.
Another adventure packed day taking in this lovely land we are fortunate enough to call home, even with those trick-filled cycling paths.
Last edited by dakman; 01.09.2008 at 22:25.
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