LIVING SURVEY — measurements are reviewed continuously as new data and local evidence arrive. Seen a sign, a gate, or a better name? Submit an update no account needed · photos welcome via GitHub

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Via Alp da Ruschein

8629.8 m · net rise 735.9 m · total ascent 770.4 m · overall 8.5% · evidence quality B (good) · Ilanz/Glion · Graubünden/Grischun/Grigioni ·

Shape: sustained — 30% of the climbing sits in a quarter of the distance; longest continuous stretch at 10%+ is 675 m.

Found purely from mapping and LiDAR data, and not yet matched against books, race records or lists — it may be well known to locals under a name we've never heard. It was cross-checked against swisstopo’s swissTLM3D road model, OpenStreetMap and a second terrain model, but a discovery can still be an artifact of the terrain model or the map. Treat it as a well-evidenced hypothesis until someone has ridden it. If you know this road, tell us what you found — photographs, corrections and local knowledge all welcome; the map links below let you scout it first.

Gradient ladder what do windows mean?

WindowMaximumLocated at
2 m (diagnostic)≈35%3500–3502 munder overhead cover terrain reads 110.7% at 5131–5133 m across a structure and ground that holds no carriageway surface at the route line (sunken, walled or sharply embanked) — excluded
3 m (diagnostic)≈32%5039–5042 munder overhead cover terrain reads 80.2% at 5025–5028 m across a structure and ground that holds no carriageway surface at the route line (sunken, walled or sharply embanked) — excluded
5 m≈28%5039–5044 munder overhead cover terrain reads 59.2% at 5128–5133 m across a structure — excluded
10 m≈22%3776–3786 munder overhead cover terrain reads 41.0% at 5123–5133 m across a structure — excluded
20 m≈16.1%3776–3796 munder overhead cover terrain reads 23.8% at 5113–5133 m across a structure and ground that holds no carriageway surface at the route line (sunken, walled or sharply embanked) — excluded
25 m≈15.6%243–268 munder overhead cover terrain reads 25.6% at 5108–5133 m across a structure — excluded
50 m≈14.9%240–290 munder overhead cover terrain reads 15.7% at 5017–5067 m across a structure — excluded
100 m14.9%236–336 m

may start earliermay continue beyond end Extent detection suggests reviewing where this climb starts/ends.

Map

Check this route yourself: Google Maps route via their router · Street View at the base where coverage exists · geojson.io our exact measured line · OpenTopoMap

This climb's data: OCL JSON — the full gradient ladder, quality flags and provenance in the OpenClimb Ladder format.

Surface: paved (14% unpaved), according to swisstopo's swissTLM3D road model: paved for the first 7,407 m; unpaved from 7,407 m to the top. The steepest 25 m lies on the paved part.

Measured, not vetted. This page records what the laser record shows about the road's shape — nothing more. Nobody has necessarily ridden or inspected this road for the survey, and a page here is not a recommendation and no guarantee that the road is open, surfaced, rideable or safe. Gates, private sections, missing rights of way and hazards do not show up in elevation data. Check access and conditions on the ground and make your own judgment.

Ridden it, or know better? Submit data for this climb no account needed ·

Route colour = gradient over a 25 m window: <10% 10–20% 20–25% ≥25%

  © OpenStreetMap contributors · topo tiles © OpenTopoMap (CC-BY-SA) · vector tiles OpenFreeMap · aerial imagery © swisstopo

Via Alp da Ruschein LiDAR hillshade map with contours

Profile

The map, profile and gradient chart share one position — move your pointer over them and the marker follows. Colors are the gradient bands; the shaded span is the steepest 25 m. Any 25 m figure is good to about a point either way (why).

Via Alp da Ruschein elevation profile
Via Alp da Ruschein rolling gradient profile
 

Measurement card

Elevationswisstopo swissALTI3D — swissALTI3D 0.5 m DTM (Federal Office of Topography swisstopo)
Resolution / CRS0.5 m grid, EPSG:2056; sampled every 1.0 m, bilinear interpolation
Tiles2731-1186, 2731-1187, 2731-1188, 2732-1183, 2732-1184, 2732-1185, 2732-1186, 2732-1187, 2733-1182, 2733-1183, 2733-1184, 2734-1182, 2734-1183
Road centrelineOpenStreetMap (local PBF extract)
Quality statusevidence quality B; caveated windows: placement excluded, structure excluded, texture excluded
AnalysisOCL 0.1.0, analysis 0.1.0, run texture-ch-ch-260912, calculated 2026-09-12

Provenance

{
  "analysis_version": "0.1.0",
  "sample_interval_m": 1.0,
  "interpolation": "bilinear",
  "smoothing": "none",
  "gradient_windows_m": [
    5.0,
    10.0,
    20.0,
    25.0,
    50.0,
    100.0
  ],
  "diagnostic_windows_m": [
    2.0,
    3.0
  ],
  "elevation_crs": "EPSG:2056",
  "elevation_resolution_m": 0.5,
  "elevation_tiles": [
    "data/cache/ch/swissalti3d_2023_2731-1186_0.5_2056_5728.tif",
    "data/cache/ch/swissalti3d_2023_2731-1187_0.5_2056_5728.tif",
    "data/cache/ch/swissalti3d_2023_2731-1188_0.5_2056_5728.tif",
    "data/cache/ch/swissalti3d_2023_2732-1183_0.5_2056_5728.tif",
    "data/cache/ch/swissalti3d_2023_2732-1184_0.5_2056_5728.tif",
    "data/cache/ch/swissalti3d_2023_2732-1185_0.5_2056_5728.tif",
    "data/cache/ch/swissalti3d_2023_2732-1186_0.5_2056_5728.tif",
    "data/cache/ch/swissalti3d_2023_2732-1187_0.5_2056_5728.tif",
    "data/cache/ch/swissalti3d_2023_2733-1182_0.5_2056_5728.tif",
    "data/cache/ch/swissalti3d_2023_2733-1183_0.5_2056_5728.tif",
    "data/cache/ch/swissalti3d_2023_2733-1184_0.5_2056_5728.tif",
    "data/cache/ch/swissalti3d_2023_2734-1182_0.5_2056_5728.tif",
    "data/cache/ch/swissalti3d_2023_2734-1183_0.5_2056_5728.tif"
  ],
  "calculated_at": "2026-09-12T01:32:23+00:00",
  "road_source": "OpenStreetMap (local PBF extract)",
  "road_attribution": "\u00a9 OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL",
  "osm_pbf_path": "output/texture-ch-ch/batch-switzerland-rchunk02.pbf",
  "osm_snapshot": "",
  "run_id": "texture-ch-ch-260912",
  "elevation_provider": "swisstopo swissALTI3D",
  "elevation_licence": "swisstopo open government data (OGD): free use, attribution '\u00a9 swisstopo' \u2014 https://www.swisstopo.admin.ch/en/terms-and-conditions",
  "elevation_dataset": "swissALTI3D 0.5 m DTM (Federal Office of Topography swisstopo)",
  "elevation_tile_ids": [
    "2731-1186",
    "2731-1187",
    "2731-1188",
    "2732-1183",
    "2732-1184",
    "2732-1185",
    "2732-1186",
    "2732-1187",
    "2733-1182",
    "2733-1183",
    "2733-1184",
    "2734-1182",
    "2734-1183"
  ],
  "climb_origin": "discovered",
  "canopy_check": "unavailable \u2014 no surface model (DSM or point cloud) registered for this coverage",
  "license": "ODbL-1.0",
  "license_url": "https://howsteep.org/licensing"
}