Grosse Scheidegg
The car-free climb from Meiringen to the foot of the Wetterhorn
Overview
The Grosse Scheidegg is one of the great secrets of the Bernese Oberland: a mountain pass road that almost no one can drive. Linking Meiringen in the Haslital with Grindelwald, it is closed to private cars — only the yellow Postbus, a handful of permit-holders, and cyclists are allowed up. The result is a rare thing in the Alps: a properly hard, high climb that you ride in near silence, with the Wetterhorn and the Eiger filling the windscreen-less view ahead. From Meiringen it climbs through forest and the Rosenlaui gorge to a 1,962 m col, and it asks for real climbing legs.
Key info:
- Total distance: 18.3 km
- Area: Haslital / Grindelwald
- Recommended for: Advanced
- Appeal: A car-free alpine pass closed to private traffic — quiet, wild tarmac through the Rosenlaui gorge to the foot of the Eiger and Wetterhorn
- Water & fuel: Stock up in Meiringen; mountain restaurants en route at Rosenlaui and Schwarzwaldalp, and the Hotel Grosse Scheidegg at the summit
- Time of year: Late May–October
- Road: Narrow single-lane mountain road, mostly smooth tarmac with some weathered patches; closed to private cars
Ascent
The climb proper begins on the edge of Meiringen at around 600 m, where the road leaves the valley floor and tips straight into the work. There is no gentle warm-up: the lower ramps out of Schattenhalb hit double digits early, and the gradient barely relents for the next 18 km. The road threads up through forest, past the milky cascades of the Reichenbach, then opens out at Rosenlaui with the glacier hanging above. From Schwarzwaldalp the final third is the steepest and most exposed, ramping toward 18% in short pitches as it claws up the open hillside to the col. At 1,361 m of gain over 18.3 km, holding a sustained 7.4%, it is a genuine advanced test — long, relentless, and rewarded by the silence of a road without cars.
Stats:
- Level: Advanced
- Distance: 18.3 km
- Elevation gain: 1,361 m
- Maximum gradient: 18%
- Average gradient: 7.4%
- Estimated time (at level): 83 min
Descent
From the col the road drops hard toward Grindelwald — about 8.7 km losing some 810 m at an average near 9.3%, touching 12% on the steeper pitches. It is a narrow, single-lane descent with the Eiger looming ahead, and it is a genuine switchback road: around 9 tight hairpins thread down the hillside, with the occasional oncoming Postbus and a steep average grade that demand real braking nerve. The steady 9.3% pitch and the bends make it a solid intermediate descent — it is no place to be careless on cold rims.
Stats:
- Level: Intermediate
- Hairpins: 9
- Maximum gradient: 12%
- Average gradient: 9.3%
Climb Profile
A steep start out of Meiringen settles into a relentless grind through the Rosenlaui gorge, easing only briefly across the Schwarzwaldalp plateau before the final exposed ramps toward 18% — 1,361 m of gain over 18.3 km from the Haslital valley floor to the 1,962 m col.
Summary
The Grosse Scheidegg is a climb to plan a trip around. The ascent rewards advanced fitness with a long sustained effort, and the steep, switchback-laden drop into Grindelwald keeps the route a serious test in both directions — and it pays you back with one of the quietest big climbs in the Alps. Ride it as an out-and-back from Meiringen, or do as this route did and link it into a loop down through Grindelwald and back along the Brienzersee. Either way, start early, carry enough to reach Rosenlaui, and savour a high alpine pass with no engines but your own legs.