St. Gotthardpass/Passo del S. Gottardo
	Height	Climbing height
	2106m Sign 2091m	931m (Airolo) 611m (Hospental)
	Difficulty	Beauty
	South 3 (5); North 2 (5)	3-4 (5)
How to get there	The old cobblestoned (to ca. 85%) road from Airolo (1175m) is the main attraction of this classic pass and you should definitely climb this pass from the south. They have an old horsedriven postal wagon going up and down mostly as a tourist attraction, I believe). The pavement, even though rough, is quite agreeable with a racer bicycle, especially if going up and the gradient is always easy at ca. 6%. I met the wagon on the steepest place (around 9%) wondering what it was about. (There is one place higher up that is above 11% I noticed when looking at a profile.) The climb from the north, Hospental (1495m), is quite easy, but with one section up to 9%.
Other comments	This pass is one of the old classic Alps passes located between the Simplonpass and Lukmanierpass. Even though you might be allowed to use the new road up on the south side, you will be greatly disappointed that you never took the really wonderful old road, which is perfectly cylable up at least. (Going down that way is probably a harsher experience though.) Both sides are rather evenly steep, but the south side is longer. The higher south side has the best views. The heights mostly given for the pass either gives the height of the new road (2109m) or of the hostel/bar on the old road (2091m, also the sign by the lake says so). The height I have given is the actual highest point on the actual pass of both roads (as they join together there) according to the official maps online at swissgeo.ch. [CH-TI-2091;o526]