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Balmberg
1'084 m
Solothurn
A humble climb that punches well above its height, the Balmberg is a small but ferocious crossing that carries the road over the Jura ridge just north of Solothurn.
1'084 m
Solothurn
A humble climb that punches well above its height, the Balmberg is a small but ferocious crossing that carries the road over the Jura ridge just north of Solothurn.
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A humble climb that punches well above its height, the Balmberg is a small but ferocious crossing that carries the road over the Jura ridge just north of Solothurn. What it lacks in height it makes up in gradient: its wooded northern ramp from Welschenrohr is among the steepest pass roads in Switzerland, pitching up to 25%, and so narrow in places that cars must reverse to let oncoming traffic by. That steep north side is closed through the depth of winter, while the gentler southern climb is kept open year-round.
Today the Balmberg is Solothurn's beloved Sportberg: ski lifts and sledging when the snow comes, a rope park and a stage of the Jura Ridgeway in summer, and a favourite of cyclists and motorcyclists. From the crest, on a clear day the eye runs across the Mittelland to the wall of the Bernese Alps. And for all its modesty, this little hill has tested the professionals: the Balmberg has served several times as a Tour de Suisse stage, among them in 1969 and 1972, when the peloton was sent grinding up its punishing ramps.
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