Pragel & Klausen

Hopefully the summer is here to stay, so while its hot in the cities, its time to head up and over the mountain passes. Starting from Arth-Goldau, I was soon cycling beside Lauerzersee towards Schwyz. This is a very nice section, certainly not worth changing trains and arriving in Schwyz. I passed the Victorinox factory here, then followed the signs to Muotathal.
A wide, glacial valley leads to base of the first test of the day. This route is difficult to follow on some maps, but I'd read enough to understand that the route is at least surfaced in its entirety, and so I'd had the idea for todays loop for sometime. The west side of the Pragelpass is much steeper than the east, it seems most bloggers prefer the easier climb, but I like to get this not-so-short and steep ascent out of the way then have a more enjoyable descent eastwards. The first 4km from Muotathal is bottom gear and long sections of standing, but the scenery is more than enough to give you the boost you need to climb this beast.
The descent eastwards is gentle, and leads down to the unbelievably picturesque lake of Klöntalersee. The water is turquoise and heavy waterfalls are falling into the still water, spectacular.
Descending further and turning right through Glarus, the road begins to climb, but its a false start to the main climb of the Klausen pass. The pass really starts at Linthal with a couple of cobbled hairpin bends. I was very glad to see the end of this small section, but my first fear was that this was another climb like the Tremola, the old Gotthard pass! Luckily not, but I will have to face those cobbles next month in the Granfondo Sangottardo.
The climb is 23km and average 5.7% from here, so a long way to go ! Theres a respite between 9 and 15km as you pass through awesome scenery, the sound of cowbells the whole stretch as you begin to see the final 7km stretch up and away in the distance.
Over the top, and on the descent I bascially shat myself as the road hugged the edge of a glacial pit, which must have dropped several hundred meters as a sheer cliff. I stopped here, telling a Swiss mountain biker how extreme this scenery was, but he just laughed and said this is normal. But he did warn its a different place at the weekend with many motorbikers racing past.
After carefully getting past this terrifying section, its a long long way down through Altdorf and to the banks of Lake Luzern at Fluella, I got the train from Brunni today.

Basically I can't begin to describe how spectacular this route is, from start to finish, every km breathtaking in very different ways. And this is just my first high mountain pass of the summer......