Great "unknown" climbs

[gustavoduncan]

also we climb this, the famous prison of pablo escobar:

pics and info here: http://altimetriascolombia.blogspot.com/2013/11/la-catedral-la-carcel-que-se-hizo.html

 

[aarononymous]

Gustavo you rode with Juan Carlos from Urrao, correct? I saw him post theat of facebook, Colombian N=Mt Zoncolan

 

[gustavoduncan]

Gustavo you rode with Juan Carlos from Urrao, correct? I saw him post theat of facebook, Colombian N=Mt Zoncolan

i meet him once and ocasionally we chat by fbk. we are planning to climb limonar together but his level is so impressive that i think i will see him only in the first slopes of the climb

 

[Zam_Olyas]

 

[Zam_Olyas]

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Muito bem! Where is that?

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Muito bem! Where is that?

Nepal...syabrubesi..i think it is pronounce as sapro basi.

 

[BigMac]

Reviving the thread with one of my favourite climbs. I have never ridden it nor have seen it being ridden, but boy it looks so beautiful.

Le Col de Tende, from the French side (not actually from Tende because that would ruin the climb. Instead, it starts in the Vallée de la Roya, a few km's before the tunnel that goes under the mountain). It is 9km at 10%. The road is not paved and it's condition gets worse as you climb.

It has been climbed from the Italian side, which is paved, in the Giro 2005. Le Tour has been up there in 1952 and 1961.

Near the top, slightly higher than the pass, there is a World War I fortification, the Fort Central. It's huge and magnificent. Scary if you ask me.

If the route was paved, it could very well host a MTF, since the summit is proven to be logistic-friendly. Or even be used as a pass going into Italy.

Could not find decent profiles, at least from where I want them to start.

Now some pictures.

Stunning.

 

[rhubroma]

Reviving the thread with one of my favourite climbs. I have never ridden it nor have seen it being ridden, but boy it looks so beautiful.

Le Col de Tende, from the French side (not actually from Tende because that would ruin the climb. Instead, it starts in the Vallée de la Roya, a few km's before the tunnel that goes under the mountain). It is 9km at 10%. The road is not paved and it's condition gets worse as you climb.

It has been climbed from the Italian side, which is paved, in the Giro 2005. Le Tour has been up there in 1952 and 1961.

Near the top, slightly higher than the pass, there is a World War I fortification, the Fort Central. It's huge and magnificent. Scary if you ask me.

If the route was paved, it could very well host a MTF, since the summit is proven to be logistic-friendly. Or even be used as a pass going into Italy.

Could not find decent profiles, at least from where I want them to start.

Now some pictures.

Stunning.

Great ride from the villiage of Sospel, which I did on a mountain bike back in 92.

 

[BigMac]

Great ride from the villiage of Sospel, which I did on a mountain bike back in 92.

That must have been a great experience. Sospel is still a bit far from the Tende border and almost as beautiful as the latter.

 

[BigMac]

Has the Colle del Nivolet ever been climbed in the Giro? It's a sweet, long climb with great scenary.

 

[Eshnar]

Has the Colle del Nivolet ever been climbed in the Giro? It's a sweet, long climb with great scenary.

Nope.
And every single year is mentioned as a possible MTF in the route rumours and in the end it never shows up

 

[BigMac]

Nope.
And every single year is mentioned as a possible MTF in the route rumours and in the end it never shows up

That's truly a shame. I just fell in love with it.

 

[Broth3r]

Man, I really want to hear more about all the forsaken climbs in Portugal. I knew the Volta had to ignore great climbs with it's atrocious unwillingness to change a bit, but didn't know exactly what else we had to offer.

On another note, I was trying to find out data on Mount Haruna in Japan, a mountain that's close to my heart for reasons completely unrelated to cycling. I failed, unfortunately. I don't even know if it'd make a good climb. I really hope it would, because it's simply the best stretch of road in the world.

Though you might know it better as Mount Akina.

 

[BigMac]

Calçada de St. Amaro, Alcântara, Lisboa. The pictures don't do it justice. When you see it live you realize it's a monstrous wall. Short, though, as it is only @100m long. At the top there's the Santo Amaro Chappel (Capela de St. Amaro). Lisbon is full of this short sharp climbs with gradients well above 20%, problem is some have tram lines.

 

[trevim]

I always though Lisboa is a great place to host a mini Tour de Flanders. It has dozens of those wicked walls.

 

[Lupetto]

I always though Lisboa is a great place to host a mini Tour de Flanders. It has dozens of those wicked walls.

Please do a route in the race design thread.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

On another note, I was trying to find out data on Mount Haruna in Japan, a mountain that's close to my heart for reasons completely unrelated to cycling. I failed, unfortunately. I don't even know if it'd make a good climb. I really hope it would, because it's simply the best stretch of road in the world.

I don't have any exact data either, but for sure it would make a great climb. The climb is beautiful of course and there are a lot of different roads on the sides of mount Haruna so there are a lot of different routes going to the top. I think you could even combine several sides of mount Haruna into a pretty awesome finale. The most difficult route I could find ( using the not necessarily very accurate http://www.ridewithgps.com) should be about 10km @ 8,5% and then a short decent to the crater lake, with longer less steep routes also available. So it's not super difficult, but you can make a pretty awesome mountain stage around Lake Haruna.

But yeah, Japan is a country with loads of awesome climbs and it's not just Fuji and Norikura there are other mountains too, though information is scarce. But one example is Odarumi Toge which is 28,39km at 6.5% according to climbbybike (http://climbbybike.com/climb.asp?Col=Odarumi-Toge&qryMountainID=12203) and there is much more, also steeper climbs.

But one climb in particular I want to suggest is mount Iwamaki. Now, it's not a very difficult climb, using the same site again there's a lead up of maybe some km's at 3-5% and then a bit of 9km at maybe a bit more than 8%. But there is something ridiculous about those last 9km, namely that according to the map they feature around 60 hairpins. At first I thought the map couldn't be right. Seriously, wtf, 60 hairpins is roughly the amount as Alpe d'Huez and Stelvio put together. But though I couldn't find pictures and it didn't have google streetview at the time, I did find tourist information saying a good road was going up the mountain. But now I see it has google streetview now, so I can confirm it now.

Mount Iwaki, roughly 60 hairpins in 9km with a nice gradient, a good road and a big parking area at the top to host a stage finish

 

[trevim]

Please do a route in the race design thread.

I'll do one when I have some free time to think how to link all those walls

 

[willbick]

I once rode up Monte Botte Donato from Cosenza, south Italy. Was about 1600m ascent. I wonder if they've ever been up it in a Giro?

 

[RRK1975]

Pipay, France

I would like to se a MTF finish in the TDF going to the ski station of Pipay in the Belledonne Masif.

http://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?Col=Pipay-les-Sept-Laux&qryMountainID=7045#profile

I am not sure if this profile is that accurate* but it gives a picture of the size of the climb and it would surely be HC.

*It makes no sense to have a flat km in hairpins.

Anyway it´s realistic, the road is good enough & there is enough space. Also the ski station is fairly big so money should be there as well.

Last but no least it can easily be combined with other climbs, that we don´t that often if ever.
1. Col du Coq & Col du Porte just one the other side of the Isere valey.
2. Charmrousse just to the south
3. There are quite a number of smaller cols on the eastern slope of the Isere Valley like Col Du Barrios.
http://www.cycling-challenge.com/co...y-and-prapoutel-les-sept-laux/#prettyPhoto/0/
( I actually think this profile of the 2nd part is more accurate, but again it´s onlly speculation)

 

[May0maniac]

I once rode up Monte Botte Donato from Cosenza, south Italy. Was about 1600m ascent. I wonder if they've ever been up it in a Giro?

It would be a nice climb and could be great as an early mountain stage, or as a monster MTT
Another nice climb that is also located Calabria would be up to Montalto from Villa San Giovanni. The last few km are more of a false flat with a few ramps, but if the race would finish after the steepest part it would over 1700m of ascent.

 

[Lupetto]

Estrada da Corda (Ilha de Santo Antão)

The island of Santo Antão is one of ten islands of Cabo Verde. And since this beautiful island country will win the next African Cup of Nations , it's time to take a look on this country.

The Estrada da Corda is a road between the municipalities of Porto Novo and Ribeira Grande.This beast of a climb is completely cobbled. 35 kilometers of cobblestones. But it is not only cobbles and insanely staggering nature, it is also a very demanding climb from both sides.

If you tackle the climb of the "road of ropes" from the north side of the island, you will start in Ribeira Grande. From sea level the road rises up to 1413 meters on a distance of 17 kilometers. So we have an average gradient of 8,3%, which maxes out at 17%. It's like a little Koppenberg in the middle of a hard climb.

From the south side it is almost the same length and the same gradient. But the middle part with short hairpin after short hairpins features about 5-6 kilometers at 10-12%.

I believe, that there were actually road races held on these streets and it seems like they had to climb and to descent on these roads.

 

[May0maniac]

Estrada da Corda (Ilha de Santo Antão)

The island of Santo Antão is one of ten islands of Cabo Verde. And since this beautiful island country will win the next African Cup of Nations , it's time to take a look on this country.

The Estrada da Corda is a road between the municipalities of Porto Novo and Ribeira Grande.This beast of a climb is completely cobbled. 35 kilometers of cobblestones. But it is not only cobbles and insanely staggering nature, it is also a very demanding climb from both sides.

If you tackle the climb of the "road of ropes" from the north side of the island, you will start in Ribeira Grande. From sea level the road rises up to 1413 meters on a distance of 17 kilometers. So we have an average gradient of 8,3%, which maxes out at 17%. It's like a little Koppenberg in the middle of a hard climb.

From the south side it is almost the same length and the same gradient. But the middle part with short hairpin after short hairpins features about 5-6 kilometers at 10-12%.

I believe, that there were actually road races held on these streets and it seems like they had to climb and to descent on these roads.

Wow, 17km with an average gradient of 8,3% on cobbles, that's brutal

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

wow that climb looks amazing.

one of the best ones I've seen in this topic (which admittedly I haven't studied in depth)