Malojapass

Malojapass
The top of the road with a view to the northwest
Compass direction	Northeast	southwest
Pass height	1812  m above sea level M.
Canton	Graubünden Switzerland
Watershed	Inn → Danube	Orlegna → Mera → Adda → Po
Valley locations	Silvaplana (Switzerland)	Vicosoprano (Switzerland), Chiavenna (Italy)
expansion	Hauptstrasse 3
Built	1828
Winter closure	Open all year round, short-term closure possible after heavy snowfall
Mountains	Albula Alps (north) Bernina Alps (south)
profile
Ø pitch	0.1% (13 m / 10.9 km)	4.6% (1482 m / 32.2 km)
Max. Incline		9%
Map (Graubünden)
Coordinates	773 531  /  141419 coordinates: 46 ° 24 '6 "  N , 9 ° 41' 43"  O ; CH1903:  seven hundred and seventy-three thousand five hundred and thirty-one  /  141419

The Malojapass ( Italian Passo del Maloggia , Rhaeto-Romanic Pass da Malögia ^{? / I} ) is an 1812  m above sea level. The high Swiss Alpine pass , which connects the Bergell with the Engadine within the canton of Graubünden and separates the Albula from the Bernina Alps . It lies on the watershed between the Danube and the Po , which branches off the European main watershed ( Rhine ) a little to the northwest at the Lunghin Pass . The pass road is part of main road 3 , the apex of which is a little south still within the village of Maloja in the municipality of Bregaglia at 1815  m above sea level. M. lies.

history

The transition

Malojapass with steep south ramp (front left) and flat north side

A recording from 1906

The Malojapass was already of great importance for traffic in the past, and this has not decreased until today. The special thing about this alpine pass is that it is very flat on its north side, but on the south it drops steeply and abruptly into Bergell. From Chiavenna in Italy to Maloja the pass path climbs 1482 m over 32 km. Over the next 49 km to the northeast to Zernez , however, the difference in altitude is only 343 m.

This peculiarity of the pass is due to the natural history of the Maloja area. A few hundred thousand years ago, the Engadine Inn valley extended much further to the south-west and the uppermost side valleys of today's Bergell were the source valleys of the Inn. On the other, southern side of the main Alpine ridge , the much steeper Mera eroded an ever deeper valley towards Lake Como and the Adriatic Sea . The courses of the Mera, Albigna and Orlegna , whose flow direction turns by up to 180 ° to the south-west, indicate that these waters have been diverted by the backward erosion of the Mera. There is no doubt that the Val Duana and Val Maroz used to represent the upper reaches of the Inn. The name of the pass goes back to the language of the shepherds from neighboring Valtellina , who called it Maloggia , which means something like alder grove . In the local Romansh language the pass is called Malögia .

The ways

It was the Romans who laid the first mule track over the Maloja, which soon fell into disrepair. Whether this mule track was already passable for carts is disputed today. If it was not at the beginning, it can be assumed for late antiquity . Throughout the Middle Ages the Maloja was committed, but insignificant. Nevertheless, it is said to have been built, probably in the late Middle Ages . Presumably, this is a repair of the old Roman road, because the Maloja was hardly more than a replacement route for the Septimer .

Only in the 16th century did the Maloja regain importance and it was not until 1776 that a small street was built. In the years 1827 to 1839, a modern artificial road was built by Richard La Nicca , with 22 curves, including 13 switchbacks, on the west ramp. In 1840 the continuation of the modern Maloja street began, which until then ended in Casaccia . It was not until 1859 that this led to Italy. The road was well accepted by traffic, at the end of the 19th century up to 12,000 horses were counted each month passing the pass. From 1846 there was a postal service between Samedan and Chiavenna, which runs regularly twice a week. A horse-drawn carriage initially provided this service and was replaced by a 'PTT Alpine Car' in 1922. This alpine car of the PTT , the Swiss Post, a 40 hp Saurer , had to drive on the natural pavement that was still common at the time for some time until the canton road was paved in 1934. In 1957 it was extensively modernized.

The Maloja transport projects

The last serpentines of the Malojapassstrasse (south side)

The last serpentines of the Malojapassstrasse

Again and again, the Maloja caused a stir in the public because of some traffic projects. The first comes from the early 18th century and concerned a transverse Alpine canal between Milan and Innsbruck , which was intended to be used for shipping between the Po and the Danube (see also the chapter on canal projects in the Alps ). The project was never forgotten, but almost as quickly as it appeared, it also disappeared again and again. In the 20th century, the canal plans finally came to an end and were replaced by plans to build a railway line.

At the end of the 19th century there were plans to build a railway line over the Maloja, which should be continued over the Julier Pass. Holsboer, the initiator of the Rhaetian Railway , developed a corresponding concept. Later, however, the decision was made for the Albula variant, which was later to be continued over the Maloja in the direction of Bergell. LaNicca had already examined the Maloja more than half a century earlier as part of a comparative study on the construction of an Alpine railway, but found the Lukmanier Pass , Splügen or San Bernardino to be more suitable. At times, as part of the construction of a standard-gauge Albula - Ofenberg railway, the plan was also to have a standard-gauge railway branching off to Maloja. With this connection of Chiavennas and thus also Lombardy to the Albula-Ofenberg Railway, it was hoped that additional transport orders would be used, as this would significantly enlarge the catchment area.

Distances and heights of the Chiavenna-Silvaplana road

• 0 km Chiavenna 325  m above sea level M.
• 10 km Castasegna (Swiss-Italian border) 696  m above sea level. M.
• 13 km Promontogno 802  m above sea level M.
• 16 km Stampa 994  m above sea level M.
• 18 km Borgonovo 1029  m above sea level M.
• 19 km Vicosoprano 1065  m above sea level M.
• 27 km Casaccia 1458  m above sea level M.
• 32 km Malojapass 1815  m above sea level M.
• 33 km Maloja (village) 1809  m above sea level M.
• 40 km Sils im Engadin / Segl 1798  m above sea level M.
• 44 km Silvaplana 1802  m above sea level M.

literature

• Adolf Collenberg: Malojapass. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . August 15, 2008 .

Web links

Commons : Malojapass  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Malojapass on the ETHorama platform

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Maps of Switzerland (SwissTopo)
2. ^ Herbert Louis, Klaus Fischer: Allgemeine Geomorphologie. Berlin 1979, 814 pp.
3. ↑ Steffan Bruns: ALPENPASSES - history of the alpine pass crossings . From the Inn to Lake Garda (vol. 3, p. 30). tape 2 . L. Staackmann Verlag KG, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-88675-273-7 , p. 200 .