“My first journey over the Simplon? That was 37 years ago,” says Pius Allenbach, cracking a mischievous smile. The Postbus driver from Brig knows every corner and every turn on the mountain road that winds its way up from Brig over the Ganter Bridge to the hospice, at an altitude of 2,005 metres above sea level, before continuing south to the village of Simplon and through the Gondoschlucht gorge to Domodossola. The journey takes an hour and 45 minutes and includes 33 stops.

It is the end of May and snow is piled up high on either side of the road. “It only melts in high summer,” explains Pius Allenbach. The three-storey Simplon Hospice stands majestically at the top of the pass. The laying of the foundation stone of the largest hospice in the Swiss Alps dates back to the time of Napoleon Bonaparte, and work was completed in 1831 by the monks of the Great St Bernard hospice.

Standing proudly on a hill above the pass road is the famous stone eagle. The eight-metre-high monument is a memorial to the deployment of the Swiss border patrol during World War Two. Soldiers can still often be seen here – the old hospice with the castle-like Stockalperturm now belongs to the army. It is regularly used as accommodation for artillery soldiers during their reservist exercises.

Dangerous journey

Pius Allenbach had an unforgettable experience with soldiers during his career as a Postbus driver. “It was winter and we had to take about 400 soldiers up to the pass.” The weather was terrible, a fierce wind was blowing and the snow was falling almost horizontally. “Visibility was zero and the pass was officially closed,” recalls the native of Brig. But this didn’t stop the courageous drivers from reaching the pass: “There was a convoy of ten Postbuses lead by a snow plough.” It was a small miracle that the journey was completed without any incident.”