Via Palü d'Alp
3632.8 m · net rise 392.4 m · total ascent 429.2 m · overall 10.8% · evidence quality B (good) · Valsot · Graubünden/Grischun/Grigioni · share
Shape: sustained — 32% of the climbing sits in a quarter of the distance; longest continuous stretch at 10%+ is 429 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?
| Window | Maximum | Located at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 m (diagnostic) | ≈32% | 1291–1293 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 854.5% at 1231–1233 m across a structure — excluded |
| 3 m (diagnostic) | ≈29% | 1290–1293 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 610.8% at 1231–1234 m across a structure — excluded |
| 5 m | ≈25% | 1290–1295 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 402.6% at 1231–1236 m across a structure — excluded |
| 10 m | ≈18% | 1638–1648 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 261.5% at 1231–1241 m across a structure — excluded |
| 20 m | ≈16.3% | 1637–1657 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 162.8% at 1230–1250 m across a structure — excluded |
| 25 m | ≈16.0% | 1635–1660 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 148.2% at 1231–1256 m across a structure — excluded |
| 50 m | ≈14.4% | 3409–3459 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 96.4% at 1228–1278 m across a structure — excluded |
| 100 m | ≈13.7% | 3409–3509 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 54.1% at 1177–1277 m across a structure — excluded |
may 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: unpaved (94% unpaved), according to swisstopo's swissTLM3D road model: paved for the first 10 m; unpaved for the first 1,227 m; paved from 1,227 m to 1,426 m; unpaved from 1,426 m to the top. The steepest 25 m lies on the unpaved 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 · Share this climb
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
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).
Measurement card
| Elevation | swisstopo swissALTI3D — swissALTI3D 0.5 m DTM (Federal Office of Topography swisstopo) |
|---|---|
| Resolution / CRS | 0.5 m grid, EPSG:2056; sampled every 1.0 m, bilinear interpolation |
| Tiles | 2828-1194, 2828-1195, 2829-1194, 2829-1195 |
| Road centreline | OpenStreetMap (local PBF extract) |
| Quality status | evidence quality B; caveated windows: structure excluded, texture excluded |
| Analysis | OCL 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_2828-1194_0.5_2056_5728.tif",
"data/cache/ch/swissalti3d_2023_2828-1195_0.5_2056_5728.tif",
"data/cache/ch/swissalti3d_2023_2829-1194_0.5_2056_5728.tif",
"data/cache/ch/swissalti3d_2023_2829-1195_0.5_2056_5728.tif"
],
"calculated_at": "2026-09-12T01:30:06+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": [
"2828-1194",
"2828-1195",
"2829-1194",
"2829-1195"
],
"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"
}