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Ächerli
1'457 m
Obwalden / Nidwalden
A hidden gateway between Obwalden and Nidwalden, the Ächerli Pass climbs to 1,458 metres through some of central Switzerland's most timeless alpine farmland.
1'457 m
Obwalden / Nidwalden
A hidden gateway between Obwalden and Nidwalden, the Ächerli Pass climbs to 1,458 metres through some of central Switzerland's most timeless alpine farmland.
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A hidden gateway between Obwalden and Nidwalden, the Ächerli Pass climbs to 1,458 metres through some of central Switzerland's most timeless alpine farmland. It was here in 1798 that French troops, shown the secret crossing by a local traitor, slipped over the ridge to fall on Nidwalden from behind. The half-canton had alone refused the oath to the new Helvetic Republic, and the punishment was merciless: by nightfall over four hundred lay dead, a twentieth of its people. The betrayal of the path would poison relations between the two half-cantons for more than a century.
Today its narrow ribbon of asphalt twists upward at gradients of 16%, rewarding cyclists and riders with sweeping views of the Pilatus, Rigi, Stanserhorn, and Titlis.
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