Description
On Day 5, we left the relative flats of the Rhone River valley in Brig and headed south over the Simplon Pass into Italy.
The Simplon Pass is one of the more famous passes over the Alps. From Brig to the top of the pass is about 22 km and
a climb of 1327 meters. The average grade is 6% with a 10% maximum.
In general, the pass has a bad repuatation for cycling and our ride did not do much to change that opinion. On
the ride up the pass, the weather was cold and foggy so we could not really tell if there was much to see. Also, while
the first third of the climb is on smaller roads, two-thirds of the climb is on a major traffic route. We were lucky
that the truck traffic was relatively light, as there is no shoulder for much of the route. There are also a number
of tunnels and open galleries that can be dark and dangerous when there is traffic.
At the top of the pass, the weather changed and we got some great views of glaciers in the mountains over the pass as
well as the eagle at the top of the pass. The ride down to Domodossola was nearly 40 km of coasting, so make sure your
brakes are working. There were some beatiful views of mountains and waterfalls, but also a number of tunnels and galleries
to get the adrenelin flowing.
Domodossoal proved to be a surprisingly large and charming town with beatiful views in all directions.
