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Nufenen
Passo della Novena
2'480 m
Valais / Ticino
The Nufenen is the highest pass road that runs entirely within Switzerland, at 2,478 metres, linking the German-speaking Goms in the Valais with Italian-speaking Ticino.
Passo della Novena
2'480 m
Valais / Ticino
The Nufenen is the highest pass road that runs entirely within Switzerland, at 2,478 metres, linking the German-speaking Goms in the Valais with Italian-speaking Ticino.
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The Nufenen is the highest pass road that runs entirely within Switzerland, at 2,478 metres, linking the German-speaking Goms in the Valais with Italian-speaking Ticino. Yet for all its height it is a newcomer: while neighbours like the Gotthard and the Grand-Saint-Bernard carry centuries of hospices and pilgrims, the road over the Nufenen was only opened in 1969, built alongside the hydroelectric dam below the Gries Glacier. Before that it was a route of mule tracks, used to drive livestock and carry cheese south as a quieter alternative to the Gotthard.
Today it is a high, wild, windswept crossing, open only from about June to October, with the Bernese Alps and the Finsteraarhorn ranged to the north and the ice of the Gries glacier close at hand — a long, sweeping climb prized by cyclists for its scale and solitude. And it holds one quiet marvel at the top: just east of the summit the river Ticino is born, the mountain stream that gives the southern canton its name and runs all the way down to Lake Maggiore.
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