Region: Switzerland
Climbing effort: 685 cep
Elevation meters: 749
Steepest kilometer: 15.9%

Steepest 250 m: 18%
Foot: 706 m    Top: 1409 m
Mean slope: 5.2%
Length: 13.5 km

From: Reichenbach
Road conditions (2023): good
Other race bikers: 0-1 per hour
Motor vehicles: 10-30 per hour
Scenery and road: (4/5)
Restaurant or bar near top: yes

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Other climbs Switzerland

Because my smart phone was stolen, I unfortunately don't have any pictures of this climb. I would be very happy, if you took photos during this ride and then send them to me. It is important that the road is visible in the pictures. Cyclists may also appear on the photos, but rather in the background. I will mention your contribution in this text.

There are two good reasons to make the ascent through the Kiental to Griesalp, namely the beautiful landscape and the utterly demanding last kilometer and a half. If you cycle from Reichenbach into the Kiental, you will soon see a chain of snow- and ice-covered mountains at the end of the valley. The highest of these mountains is the Blüemlisalp (3663 m). Later, more high mountains become visible further to the left. These form a wonderful background for the green valley. There is already little traffic on the road at the beginning but further up in the valley it becomes even quieter. Largely the climb is not steep, with the exception of a section with three hairpin bends shortly after the start (8%) and a section after about 8 kilometers of cycling, shortly after the village of Kiental (9-10%). Another two kilometers further, in a wide part of the valley, a braided section of the river attracted my attention. A mudslide created a lake here in 1972 (the Tschingelsee), which has nowadays dried out. Immediately afterwards comes the largest challenge and final part of the ascent, in which the road winds up to Griesalp through the Griesschlucht. Here 222 elevation meters are overcome over a distance of one and a half kilometers (average 14.8%). The steepest 250 meter segment has a gradient of 18% but shorter parts are even steeper. After this effort you can recover on the terrace of the Griesalp.