Rawilpass

Rawilpass
Compass direction	North side	South side
Pass height	2425  m above sea level M.
Canton	Bern	Valais
Watershed	Iffigbach , Simme	Liène , Rhone
Valley locations	Iffigenalp , Lenk	Crans-sur-Sierre
expansion	Mule track
Mountains	Bernese Alps
map
Coordinates	600272  /  136885 coordinates: 46 ° 23 '0 "  N , 7 ° 26' 32"  O ; CH1903:  600272  /  136885

The Rawilpass (French Col du Rawil ) is 2425  m above sea level. M. high Swiss mountain crossing in the Bernese Alps .

geography

The border between the cantons of Bern and Valais runs over the top of the pass . The pass creates the connection between Lenk in the Simmental and the central Rhone Valley east of Sion . The Wildhorn group in the west is separated from the Wildstrubel group in the east by the Rawilpass .

There are several small mountain lakes, the Rawilseeleni, near the top of the pass . To the south of the pass there is a high valley ( Alpage du Rawil ), which has extensive alpine pastures, interspersed with some fields of carts and scree. The Liène drains the Rawilpass area south to the Rhône.

Development

The pass was already climbed in Roman times and in the Middle Ages and represented an important transition from the Bernese Oberland to Central Valais. The actual mule track over the Rawilpass begins in the north on the Iffigenalp, which is today with a postbus course (minibus) or by car via a Timed road can be reached. The path winds up in serpentines through a rock face. It had to be blown free from the rock in the 18th century.

In the south the path ends at the Lac de Tseuzier reservoir , which can also be reached by postbus or car. On the western slope of the Weisshorn, east of the pass, stand at 2791  m above sea level. M. the Wildstrubelhütten of the Swiss Alpine Club SAC, which often serve as accommodation when crossing a pass.

In the 1950s, the non-public military cable car (MSB5) was built to develop the military radar station on the Weisshorn. In 2002 the first section, from the Iffigenalp to the Rawilpass middle station, was replaced by a modern 18-passenger gondola lift.

Motorway project

As part of the Swiss national road network, it was long planned to create a direct connection between Bern and Sion. The then national road N6 was to be continued from its current end at Wimmis through the Simmental and crossed under the Rawilpass in a 4 km long crest tunnel. However, these plans were abandoned in 1984 after an exploratory tunnel led to excessive drainage of the mountains, which had already been noticed in 1978 when the dam wall of the nearby Lac de Tseuzier was severely deformed .

Web links

Commons : Rawilpass  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Hans von Rütte: Rawilpass. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Berner Zeitung of August 24, 2016: New railway on the Weisshorn - but almost only for the military
2. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of November 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Text at the bottom right