Klausenpass
	Height	Climbing height
	1948m	1288m (Linthal) 1504m (Altdorf)
	Difficulty	Beauty
	3-4 (5)	3-4 (5)
How to get there	The real climb from the east starts in Linthal (660m) and is at start a hard climb, but then you reach a plateau (an upper valley) where it is almost flat for several kilometres. Then it is steep again to the top. The climb from west and Altdorf (488m) is a bit similar in steepness and length. (The road goes down a little on the way up at Unterschächen (1043m to 999m).)
Other comments	It is a special pass with a character of its own. It feels like it is one of the truly oustanding big passes of the Alps, in the category of Gotthardpass, Simplonpass, Col du Gd. St. Bernard and others, but it far less used and less known. The roadwork is sometimes impressive. There are cobblestone pavements in some bends lower down near Linthal. You will not find many tourists here. There are lots of local farmers in the upper regions though. To me it looked like people were coming up here in the Summer to do farming, but that they almost all lived elsewhere (as the houses seemed like bad shelters). (This seems to be common in most parts of the Alps though, but some also obviously lived here year around.) I visited it on a very rainy day, so that might have made it appear even less touristic. [CH-UR-1948b]