| Great St Bernard Pass | |
|---|---|
| French:Col du Grand St-Bernard Italian:Colle del Gran San Bernardo German:Grosser Sankt Bernhard | |
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| Elevation | 2,469 m (8,100 ft)[1] |
| Traversed by | Rte Grand-Saint-Bernard |
| Location | Valais,Switzerland Aosta Valley,Italy |
| Range | Pennine Alps |
| Coordinates | 45°52′08″N7°10′14″E / 45.86889°N 7.17056°E /45.86889; 7.17056 |
| Topo map | Swiss Federal Office of Topographyswisstopo |
  Location in Switzerland | |
TheGreat St Bernard Pass (French:Col du Grand St-Bernard,Italian:Colle del Gran San Bernardo,German:Grosser Sankt Bernhard;Romansh:Pass del Grond Son Bernard) is the third highest roadpass inSwitzerland, at an elevation of 2,469 m (8,100 ft). It connectsMartigny in thecanton ofValais in Switzerland withAosta in the regionAosta Valley inItaly. It is the lowest pass lying on the ridge between the two highest mountains of theAlps,Mont Blanc andMonte Rosa. It is located on themain watershed that separates the basin of theRhône from that of thePo.[2]
Great St Bernard is one of the most ancient passes through theWestern Alps, with evidence of use as far back as theBronze Age and surviving traces of aRoman road. In 1800,Napoleon's army used the pass to enter Italy, an event depicted inJacques-Louis David'sNapoleon at the Saint-Bernard Pass andPaul Delaroche'sBonaparte Crossing the Alps, both notable oil paintings. Having been bypassed by easier and more practical routes, particularly theGreat St Bernard Tunnel, a road tunnel which opened in 1964, its value today is mainly historical and recreational.
Straddling the highest point of the road, theGreat St Bernard Hospice was founded in 1049. The hospice later became famous for its use ofSt. Bernard dogs in rescue operations. The Italian side of the area includes several facilities as well. Between them is the smallGreat St Bernard Lake.
The Great St Bernard Pass is located near the western end of theValais Alps, the next pass to the west,Col Ferret, marking the transition with theMont Blanc massif. In that area, betweenMont Dolent andMont Vélan, the main crest of the Alps barely reaches 3,000 metres, unlike in the much higher section of the Valais Alps east of Mont Vélan andGrand Combin. Therefore, the Great St Bernard Pass is one of the only two road axis connectingValais with northern Italy, the other axis being theSimplon Pass.[3]
The pass runs northwest–southeast through the Valais Alps (formerly known as the Pennine Alps after the Roman name for the pass,poeninus mons orsummus poeninus) at a maximum elevation of 2,469 m (8,100 ft). The road running through the pass, highway E27 in bothItaly andSwitzerland, joinsMartigny on the upperRhône in the canton ofValais, Switzerland, toAosta in theAosta Valley region of Italy. From Martigny Route 9 descends toLausanne and from Aosta Route A5 descends toTorino.
From the north, in Switzerland, the route to the pass follows the lower part of the riverDrance above Martigny, then into the sparsely populatedVal d'Entremont (lit.: "valley between mountain") through which theDrance d'Entremont flows. After having passed the last inhabited locality,Bourg-Saint-Pierre, the road runs above a large reservoir, theLac des Toules. At the location of Bourg-Saint-Bernard, theGreat St Bernard Tunnel (and the main road) plunges through the mountains at a 1,915 m (6,283 ft) level, reducing, since the tunnel's opening in 1964, the commercial relevance of the road over the pass. The summit section of the road consists of hairpin turns before it reaches the top of the pass, after having passed the Combe des Morts.
On the south side the route descends a few metres and reaches the shores of the lake before its enters Italy. Then the route follows the steep slopes of the upper part of thetorrent du Grand Saint-Bernard to the south, then turns to the east and follows the river in a bend to the south, where the mountain river enters the torrent Artanavaz nearSaint-Rhémy-en-Bosses and turns to the east again, then smoothly to the southeast at La Clusaz (Gignod). Here the river enters theButhier river in the lower end of theValpelline valley and turns south again on which end finally the river flows into theDora Baltea near thePont de Pierre inAosta. The route here in the main valley of the Val d'Aoste becomes part of theA5 motorway connecting theMont Blanc Tunnel to the west and the upperPo Basin to the southeast.
A reduction of utility began after the construction of theSimplon Tunnel, strictly a railway tunnel, 100 km (62 mi) to the east in 1905. The much smaller historic road winding over the pass itself, which lies a few hundred metres from the Swiss border withItaly, is only passable June to September.
The pass at narrowest point runs between the peaks of Grande Chenalette at 2,889 m (9,478 ft) andMont Mort at 2,867 m (9,406 ft). Slightly to the west isPointe de Drône at 2,949 m (9,675 ft), the highest peak. Between it and the pass is Petite Chenalette at 2,885 m (9,465 ft).[4]
TheTour de France has visited the pass five times. It was climbed four times as a 1st category climb, and one time, in 2009, as ahors catégorie climb.[5]
The snow in the pass in winter may be as much as 10 metres deep. The temperature may drop as low as -30 °C. The lake in the pass is frozen for 265 days per year.[6] A summary of weather data for the year 1991-2020 is given below.
| Climate data for Col du Grand-Saint-Bernard, elevation 2,472 m (8,110 ft), (1991–2020) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | −4.3 (24.3) | −4.7 (23.5) | −2.7 (27.1) | −0.2 (31.6) | 4.2 (39.6) | 9.1 (48.4) | 11.8 (53.2) | 11.8 (53.2) | 7.6 (45.7) | 3.7 (38.7) | −1.3 (29.7) | −3.5 (25.7) | 2.6 (36.7) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −6.9 (19.6) | −7.4 (18.7) | −5.2 (22.6) | −2.6 (27.3) | 1.5 (34.7) | 5.9 (42.6) | 8.4 (47.1) | 8.5 (47.3) | 4.6 (40.3) | 1.2 (34.2) | −3.6 (25.5) | −6.0 (21.2) | −0.1 (31.8) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −9.5 (14.9) | −10.0 (14.0) | −7.9 (17.8) | −5.2 (22.6) | −1.1 (30.0) | 2.9 (37.2) | 5.1 (41.2) | 5.5 (41.9) | 2.1 (35.8) | −1.2 (29.8) | −5.9 (21.4) | −8.6 (16.5) | −2.8 (27.0) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 241.8 (9.52) | 190.4 (7.50) | 192.3 (7.57) | 204.1 (8.04) | 206.9 (8.15) | 145.6 (5.73) | 140.0 (5.51) | 135.7 (5.34) | 132.8 (5.23) | 194.4 (7.65) | 257.6 (10.14) | 243.1 (9.57) | 2,284.7 (89.95) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 1.0 mm) | 12.9 | 12.1 | 13.3 | 13.7 | 15.4 | 13.2 | 12.7 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 12.2 | 13.6 | 14.2 | 156.5 |
| Averagerelative humidity (%) | 66 | 68 | 74 | 80 | 82 | 78 | 76 | 76 | 79 | 76 | 75 | 68 | 75 |
| Mean monthlysunshine hours | 54.9 | 103.3 | 157.6 | 148.6 | 158.0 | 188.7 | 211.8 | 201.9 | 160.2 | 123.7 | 62.4 | 24.0 | 1,595.1 |
| Percentagepossible sunshine | 19 | 30 | 40 | 45 | 44 | 49 | 53 | 53 | 45 | 30 | 19 | 18 | 40 |
| Source 1:NOAA[7] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: MeteoSwiss[8] | |||||||||||||
The pass is well above the tree line. All the wood required for construction and firewood must be hauled in from some distance. On the south-west side of the pass is a smalltarn, theGreat St Bernard Lake, which captures melt water and does not support fish, even though attempts have been made to stock it. In past years the tarn has not always thawed completely in summer.
Alpine flowers are abundant in the vicinity:Gentiana clusii,Ranunculus glacialis,Dryas octopetala,Forget-me-not,Saxifraga oppositifolia among many hundreds more.Moss is prolific and the rocks arelichen-covered.[9]: 9
A hospice for travellers was founded in 1049 by SaintBernard of Menthon and came to be named after him in the 16th century, along with the pass. It was not the first hospice in the pass. Buildings were probably there since the Roman times, but the region was not secure and they were destroyed many times. The first concern of the founder of the current monastery was to clear the region of bandits and keep the pass safe for travellers, the role of rescuers developing naturally. The hospice later became famous for its use ofSt Bernard dogs in rescue operations.Pope Pius XI confirmed Bernard as patron saint of the Alps in 1923.
The hospice straddles the highest point of the road, which is in Switzerland. Today the modern road for through traffic has been routed around the outside of the monastery buildings to allow some integrity of the grounds. The old road may still be seen, above the paved road. The hospice occupies two buildings, of 1560 and 1898 (picture, above). The Congregation of Canons of the Great Saint Bernard (the monks) also owns the Hôtel de l'Hospice du Grand-St-Bernard, a four-storey building made of grey stone (built in 1899) on the Italian side, which it leases to a private entrepreneur for the provision of hotel services.[10]
The St Bernards were bred large enough to traverse deep snow and to find lost persons by scent. The first evidence that the dogs were in use at the monastery is two paintings dating to 1690 bySalvator Rosa. It is often said that they carried small casks ofbrandy around their necks (although this is only legend), in the belief that the liquor had medicinal properties.
A description of an overnight stay at the monastery in 1857 was given by Theodore Nielsen, a Danish kleinsmith journeyman, in his memoirs:
"In the evening we reached the monastery of St Bernard on the top of the mountain. Enormous sums of money were expended to build these cloisters that were made of stonework and were placed there to give sustenance to travellers on the Alps between Italy and Switzerland. We came into a large hall where several other wanderers were seated. The monks came to shake hands with us and bid us welcome. A doctor – also a monk – asked if we had suffered any mishap coming up. The ones that had gotten hurt were treated and taken care of. They had an apothecary there also to administer to any one needing such. Another monk gave us a bowl with hotbouillon mixed with wine to warm us. We sat on wooden benches and talked with the rest of the people. There was a large stove and the place was lovely and warm. Some of the large St Bernard dogs were about and when we sat down came over to give our hands a lick just as if they wanted to say Hello too. At dinnertime we were given a piece of meat on a wooden trivet, bread and wine. The bread was so hard that it seemed we tried to bite into a piece of wood. Later we were shown into a room with good beds already made up. As we came from the warmth of the hall into the cold room we started to shiver and just couldn't get warm, so we didn't get much sleep. My turtle was cold, too, so I took it to bed with me to try to warm it a bit. We arose at five the next morning and were given a very good and generous breakfast before we started our descent of the mountain. The clouds were threatening, black and so heavy that we could see nothing and wished earnestly that we were back onto the green earth once more. It was hard work going up the mountain but worse going down. We sank into the snow, several times so deep that we had all we could do to get up again. I had expected to see some of the dogs, but we were following the wooden markers and the dogs are trained to go afield and search for the ones that missed the markers. It is impossible to find the way over the mountain without help. The large dogs searched in pairs - one has a wooden keg fastened under his chin. When they locate a victim he is offered the wine to keep him alive while the other dog runs back to the monastery to lead the monks who transport the lost back. Sometimes the lost are no longer alive."[11]
Today the tunnel and modern technology have made rescue operations at the pass mainly unnecessary. The dogs were put up for sale in 2004 because of the high cost of maintenance and were promptly bought by two foundations created for the purpose: Fondation Barry du Grand Saint Bernard[12] (major contributor Christine Cerletti-Sarasin) and Fondation Bernard et Caroline de Watteville.[13][14] Barry bought the kennels and the facilities in Martigny and continues to support and breed the dogs (three or four dozen). One condition of the sale is that they be brought to the monastery for the summer. Travellers are likely to see them romping around the slopes.[15][16] The de Watteville Foundation keeps several dogs in kennels adjunct to its Musée. Both have agreed to work together and others have joined the partnership.[17]
The monastery currently houses a handful of monks on a permanent basis, and serves as a spiritual centre for others on retreat.
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The pass first appears in history as the route taken by the Celtic tribes of theBoii andLingones in the invasion of Italy of 390 BC.[18] The classical authors first mentioning the pass in that or other contexts lived the 1st century BC under the earlyRoman Empire. They were calling the pass and the mountainsPoeninus orPoenini, "Punic", an apparent reference toHannibal's crossing. He did not cross there, however. On the presumption that the name was falsely altered by analogy, it can be reconstructed to *peninus, a Roman-Celtic word, considering that Celtic tribes owned the entire pass until defeated by the Romans.[19] Livy says that the pass was not named after the Carthaginians but after a mountain god.[20] For well over a century scholars such as theGrimm brothers have made a connection withcontinental Celticpen orben, "head, summit, chief" on an analogy with theZeus karaios ofHesychius.[21]
Two tribes occupied the valleys on either side of the pass on a permanent basis: theVeragri on the Swiss side and theSalassi on the Italian side.
Julius Caesar sent an expedition under his best commander,Servius Galba, from Gaul in 57 BC to seize the pass, hoping to obtain a shorter route between Italy and Gaul than the contemporaneous coastal route. Galba was deceived by the Veragri into making camp nearMartigny with the expectation of moving into the pass on the next day. At that time the Romans found the heights over the trail occupied by three hostile Gallic tribes. The Romans won a local victory by a daring foray from the camp but Galba judged he could not take the pass and departed.
Augustus succeeded where his adoptive father failed and the pass became Roman. Augustus placed a largecastra stativa and colony,Augusta Praetoria Salassorum, below the pass, which becameAosta (contraction of Augusta). Its ruins are a historic attraction there. By 43 AD under the emperorClaudius a good Roman road through the pass was completed with amansio at the top and a temple toJupiter Poeninus, resulting in the nameMons Jovis in late antiquity,Monte Jove in the early Italian period andMont Joux in the French period, a synonym for the pass.[6] The site of the temple is known as the Plan de Jupiter, located on a knoll on the Italian side of the pass. A cross was placed there in 1816 bearing the inscriptionDeo optimo maximo, "to the best and greatest god." The bronze statue of St Bernard on a pedestal above the road on the Italian side, across a small valley from the cross, was constructed in 1905 on the site of the Romanmansio.
The coins and votive tablets found at the site of the temple roughly date the upper limit of Roman control of the pass. The youngest date to the reign ofTheodosius II (1st half of the 5th century). These and other artifacts are stored in the monastery museum.[9]: 11 Fragments of the marble temple, some with inscriptions, have been incorporated into many structures of the village ofBourg-Saint-Pierre on the Swiss side of the pass. The Romanmilestone for mile XXIIII was also brought to the center of the settlement from the top of the pass.[22]
The pass had entered history with the Gallic invasion of 390 BC. The last Gallic invasion over it occurred in May, 1800, under the direction of the 30-year-old First Consul of theFrench Republic,Napoleon Bonaparte. AnAustrian army of 140,000 men had laid siege to French-occupiedGenoa on the west coast of northern Italy. Napoleon traversed the pass with 40,000 men and ⅓ of their heavy artillery, sending another 20,000 over three other passes as a diversion, intending to strike the Austrian rear. The panicked Austrians were unable to assemble fast enough to meet the French en masse but rather in a piecemeal way in June 1800, and so were defeated first at theBattle of Montebello and then at theBattle of Marengo.
Napoleon prepared for the march secretly by assembling men in small units below the pass, establishing supply dumps along the lower part of their route, and hiring artisans to set up shop along it as well. On May 15 an advance unit went over the pass to takeAosta, after which hospitals were set up atMartigny and Aosta. At Martigny the army assembled and received rations for three days. All the equipment - carriages, artillery, arms and ammunition - was disassembled and divided into packs of 60-70 pounds for the men to carry. The cannons were to be dragged up over the snow in hollowed-out pine half-logs by mules, and then when the mules died or were exhausted, by 100 soldiers and hired men each. Napoleon offered liberal monetary rewards to soldiers and laborers who could perform difficult portages in a timely fashion.
Over several days at the end of May the army went over the pass single-file, 6000 men per day. Bands played martial music along the route, with drum rolls at especially difficult places to alert the men. At the top the monks handed each man two glasses of wine and a slice of rye with cheese as they filed by (courtesy of the French army). Accounts of the amounts expended vary. On the other side the snow became so packed that the men slid down sitting. Napoleon was the last man over, sliding also. The good weather held for the entire crossing, otherwise the crossing could have easily become disastrous.
On the way up Napoleon had discussed affairs of the heart with his young guide and mule driver,Pierre Nicholas Dorsaz, who did not know his identity. Offered a reward at the top, Dorsaz asked for the mule on which Napoleon was riding. He received the mule and a short note for the chief supply officer of the army. Versions of the story vary, but they all agree that when the young man had turned in the note and had drawn his ample pay for the work, he found that his companion was Napoleon and the latter had given him a house and farm so that he could marry his sweetheart.
In theAosta Valley Napoleon's army slipped by an Austrian garrison at Bard just out of cannon range. The commander related that he was astonished to watch an army of 40,000 men in full equipment go marching past from the direction of the heights.[23][24]
The Dorrit family crossed from France into Italy in Book Two: Riches of the novelLittle Dorrit byCharles Dickens. They meet the newly-wed Gowans and the gentlemanly murderer Rigaud, now called Blandois, at the inn after climbing up on mules. The novel was published in 1857, but set in the mid 1820s. Dickens describes the sites of the pass, and the experience of staying overnight in the inn, having visited it in person.
From 1963 to 2010, the Great St Bernard Pass was home to the Super St-Bernard ski resort, which operated three lifts reaching elevations up to 2,770 metres near the Swiss-Italian border.
The resort opened coinciding with the construction of theGreat St Bernard Tunnel, providing year-round access to the historically significant mountain pass. Known for its reliable snowfall of 14 metres annually and challenging off-piste terrain, Super St-Bernard became a popular destination for freeriding enthusiasts, with one notable run extending across the border into Italy. Despite its reputation for excellent powder skiing, the remote location and extreme weather conditions—including frequent high winds exceeding 60 km/h—contributed to operational challenges and high maintenance costs.
The resort permanently closed in 2010 following financial difficulties and the inability to fund necessary infrastructure upgrades, becoming one of Switzerland's notable "ghost resorts" that continues to attractski touring enthusiasts to its abandoned slopes.[25]
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