Furka-Oberalp Pass poster – Otto Ernst – 1930

Poster: Furka-Oberalp Mountain Pass poster – Otto Ernst – 1930

This vintage Furka-Oberalp railway poster was created by the Swiss artist Otto Ernst who during his career created many poster promoting Switzerland. Between the early 1920s and mid 1940’s, Ernst was responsible for creating many superb poster designs covering wintersports such as skiing, tobogganing and ice skating for ski resorts including Wengen, Engelberg,  and Rochers de Naye. 

To our mind, this is one of his best. It shows the rear carriage of the Furka-Oberalp train as it disappears around the mountain rock. The view opens up to offer a stunning view of the high mountain pass. The snowy scene is seen looking towards  the Tieralplistock at the Rhonegletscher or Rhône Glacier.

The Furka Oberalp Bahn

The Furka Oberalp Bahn or Furka Oberalp Railway is a narrow guage mountain railway that runs between Disentis in Graubünden, over the Oberalp Pass to Andermatt in Uri and on to Brig in Valais, Switzerland. The first part of the railway between Brig and Gletsch was opened in 1914 and ran on 1000mm gauge railtracks. Although the second part was well under way, the war intervened and work on the track came to a halt. It wasn’t until 1926 that full services between Brig and Disentis began.

In 1930 the tracks of the newly electrified BVZ reached Brig, which enabled the famous Glacier Express to be constructed. The Glacier Express connects two of the regions largest ski resorts, Zermatt and St. Moritz via Andermatt in the central Swiss Alps. Despite its name the ‘express’ is not a high speed train, it just cuts out many of the stops the local trains would call at. From end to end he journey still takes eight hours which is the reason the Glacier Express is sometimes referred to as the slowest express train in the world.

The Rhône Glacier and Climate Change

In the 19th century and up to the beginning of the 20th century Rhone Glacier reached the valley floor near Gletsch. It could be seen from the windows of the Grand Hotel Glacier du Rhone. The opening of the Furka Pass road in 1867 gave easy access to the region, making the unique mountain panorama a popular tourist destination. And since 1870 it has been possible to take a walk through a long and winding ice grotto beneath the glacier. Because glaciers move and ice melts, the tunnel has to be carved out each year. 

Because of the glaciers easy access, its evolution has been obsevered since the 19th century. During the last 120 years 1300m of the glacier have disappeared. Between 2011 and 2016, the glacier retreated by 150 meters. According to an article written in 2020 by Michael Hardy on the Wired.com website “Both the glacier and the ice grotto are threatened by climate change. The ice tunnel may only have a few years, but the Rhône Glacier’s days are also numbered. Scientists estimate that two-thirds of the glacial ice in the Alps will melt by 2100.” Right now in 2022 that’s just 78 years away!

Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these posters, we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as a fun, affordable reproductions and not intended fine art prints.

The 50x70cm version has been specially produced to be used in conjunction with Ikea’s 50x70cm Ribba picture frame which currently retails for around £12. So you can bag a bargain of print and poster for just £22.