Pragel Pass, Mountain pass in Schwyz, Switzerland

Pragel Pass is a mountain pass at 1,548 m connecting the Muotatal in the canton of Schwyz with the Klöntal in the canton of Glarus, between Muotathal and Riedern. The pass summit lies in Schwyz, with the Drusberg (2,282 m) to the west and the Pragel (2,319 m) to the east. The road is mostly single-lane, climbs at grades up to 18 percent from Schwyz, and passes the Klöntalersee on the Glarus side.

In the War of the Second Coalition, between 29 September and 4 October 1799, about 15,000 Russians and Austrians under Field Marshal Alexander Suvorov crossed the pass into Glarus, fighting French troops under Brigadier General Gabriel Molitor. Between 1766 and 1908 several attempts to build a road failed, and a narrow-gauge railway planned in 1911 was never built. The present Glarus-side road dates from 1940, the Schwyz side from 1974.

The pass lies on the old route between Muotathal and Glarus, and its name appears in both German and French forms, Pragelpass and col du Pragel. Since 1978 the stretch from Richisau to the cantonal border has been closed to motor vehicles at weekends to stop through traffic. A summer Pragelbus ran between Hölloch and Richisau in 2008 and 2009 but was dropped in December 2009 for cost reasons.

The road is single-lane for most of its length and climbs up to 18 percent on the Schwyz side. Only vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes without trailers are allowed, and the roughly 2 km stretch between Richisau and the Glarus/Schwyz border is closed to motor vehicles on Saturdays and Sundays, so the pass cannot be used as a weekend through-route.

Between 1766 and 1908 several attempts to build a road over the pass failed, and a narrow-gauge railway planned in 1911 was never built. The present road came later: the Glarus side in 1940, the Schwyz side in 1974, built by engineer units of Reduitbrigade 24 under commander Claus Cramer, who was granted honorary citizenship of Muotathal for it.