Fluela Pass (North side)
Distance: 28.70 km
Elevation Gain: 1073 m
Elevation Loss: 162 m
Difficulty:
736 (Hard)
FIETS Index: 4.12 FIETS
Avg Grade: 3.93 %
Max cat climb: HC
Min elevation: 1336 m
Max elevation: 2385 m
Ride Category:
Climb
The Flüela Pass road, built in 1866–67, is the shortest road from the Rhine valley to the Lower Engadin, in Graubünden, Switzerland. It is the third-highest pass of the Tour de Suisse. Since the Vereina rail tunnel opened in 1999, the road has been closed in winter. The Engadin Radmarathon comes down this side and along the Landwasser valley on its long route.
This ride starts below Davos Glaris and climbs the Landwasser valley past Frauenkirch. Its church was nearly destroyed in the avalanche winter of 1602–03 and was rebuilt with an avalanche wedge on its uphill side. The painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner lived at Frauenkirch from 1918 until 1938. Beyond Davos the real climb begins. At the top, the Schottensee drains to the Rhine and the North Sea, while the Schwarzsee, just beyond, drains to the Danube and the Black Sea.
