Hill Climbs

[elapid]

As I was looking at You Tube videos from another thread on favourite cycling moments, I came across some huge climbs. I recently rode a short but steep 20% grade near Cairns, and these videos got me interested. What is the steepest climb you've cycled?

The winner for the steepest paved climb is Scanuppia, 7.5 km with grades up to 45%! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulJsjynZEZc&feature=related

And a nice mono descent of the Scanuppia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TKm-T_ne_k&feature=related

Fargo Street in LA is only 0.1 mile, but it is straight up at 32%: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0mECFP76vA&feature=related

Another Fargo Street video just because the bike is worth checking out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgIL6eHHgZU&feature=related

Brynwood Road in Portland is 28% and is one of a few 20%+ climbs in De Ronde van Oeste Portlandia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbvQqssD_jI&feature=related

 

[Animal]

Bohlman road in Saratoga. I did it as one of the 1996 Low Key Hillclimbs. It was a killer!

 

[mr. tibbs]

My highest is probably just under 20%, but here's the toughest climb I've ever done:

Little Cottonwood Canyon in Salt Lake City, UT
8-ish miles at a 9.2% average grade.

Man I miss riding my bike in Utah...

 

[Parrot23]

Ouch! Does the scenery help, LOL.

 

[franciep10]

I rode in Tenerife about 6 years ago and I tried to ride a hill named Calle Monroy it was ridiculous 28% average gradient and one section kicks up to 40 percent when hit the 40 % gradient I got off my bike the road is not in good condition but it is steep.

 

[Animal]

Wow! That's beautiful. Ever ridden American Fork Canyon just down the road?

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

I live in Portland and have ridden up some of those climbs. Ug. A road named Logie Trail isn't qutie as steep as Brynwood, but much longer, 14% over 2.2 miles, with sections at the top at 20%.

Here's a cool video of Perico riding up the Angliru.

 

[BroDeal]

Wow! That's beautiful. Ever ridden American Fork Canyon just down the road?

Yup. I posted a pic from the top of the loop in the "favorite rides" thread.

I find the steepest stuff while mountain biking, but it does not really count because of granny gear. Although loose dirt on a climb can make it interesting.

The steepest stuff I find on the road is often in residential areas that are built in foothills pressed up against the mountains. I'm not sure how steep the roads are though. The canyon roads are generally less than 12%

 

[elapid]

Here are a few climbs of personal note (plus I'm trying to see if I can get images attached to a post!):

Garmin said 24%, 300m or less, dirt road in Vermont, USA

Another hill of many in Vermont, USA, this one at 12% for nearly 1km outside Ludlow

It's short and sweet, but 20% for less than 200m at Yorkey's Knob north of Cairns, Australia

This is an unnamed hill somewhere in the Burren, Ireland, on the Curran Road. The Garmin said 26% and it was probably < 500m. Still a thigh burner. You can appreciate the grade by the angle of the telephone lines.

 

[dgodave]

I grew up on an 18% road. It wasnt long, but no matter how big a ride I did, I had to finish with that f**ker.
.

 

[Snake8]

I grew up on an 18% road. It wasnt long, but no matter how big a ride I did, I had to finish with that f**ker.
.

Same deal when i lived in NorCal, house was at the top of a +/-1k 14%. Come home zapped from a long hilly ride and have to muster the energy to do that one. I could cut out half of it by riding another mile and half up a lesser grade, but the last half was the steepest. That house was evil, no matter how you left you go down about 600ft, and unless you wanted to drop down to the river, it was right back up the steep stuff. Nothing like banging out a hill on cold legs.

The drop to the river loop was a 60mile road ride, if you wanted to ride a dirt section you could make it 35/40, anything less than that involved a series of short steep climbs most from 12-18%. Still some of the most beautiful roads I have ever ridden, in fact they use one of them for the ToC most years - Coleman Valley Road.

 

[mr. tibbs]

Wow! That's beautiful. Ever ridden American Fork Canyon just down the road?

I lived in the north end of the Salt Lake valley, so I never rode up American Fork. I've rock climbed a little there, and got an under-age drinking ticket there a loooooong time ago.

I have ridden PAST it, once, on a ride that took me from my then apartment on 9th south in Salt Lake, up over South Mountain (which has grades that easily push 15%) and then on to my rommate's dad's house, which was in Orem. It was a long day.

 

[Anonymous]

Challacombe/Woolacombe.. Hill in North Devon

Just over a kilometre with most of it 1 in 4..

but go around the cornwall and devon coast and at every bay you will find some pretty evil hills.. us lot are used to it.. bunch of girls with your 12% and 13% gradients..

Thats flat where we live..

 

[dgodave]

Same deal when i lived in NorCal, house was at the top of a +/-1k 14%. Come home zapped from a long hilly ride and have to muster the energy to do that one. I could cut out half of it by riding another mile and half up a lesser grade, but the last half was the steepest. That house was evil, no matter how you left you go down about 600ft, and unless you wanted to drop down to the river, it was right back up the steep stuff. Nothing like banging out a hill on cold legs.

The drop to the river loop was a 60mile road ride, if you wanted to ride a dirt section you could make it 35/40, anything less than that involved a series of short steep climbs most from 12-18%. Still some of the most beautiful roads I have ever ridden, in fact they use one of them for the ToC most years - Coleman Valley Road.

Nice country out there. I grew up in Marin. Great rides. Every one of them capped off by my grunt of hill. no wonder my knees suck...

 

[Anonymous]

I grew up on an 18% road. It wasnt long, but no matter how big a ride I did, I had to finish with that f**ker.
.

hill to my house in cornwall was 1 in 3, cars used to get stuck on it, but it was only about 40 yards so it wasnt really a prob..

theres one in north devon around lynmouth, im not sure of the gradient, rode up it once and nearly died.. will try find out, but they dont let some cars, up it, lorries cant do it, and even then cars struggle.. they eventually built a victorian rail lift thing to go up a 1 in 1 3/4 cliff face because the hill was too steep to transport things on... i cannot find gradient or pictures of it anywhere though..

but a daunting hill faced those who decided to walk up to Lynton. Ponies and donkeys could be hired at 6d a time, but the steep gradients severely tested the unfortunate animals. Other tourists traveled up Lynmouth hill in carriages, but the horses that pulled them had a very short working life. It was in December 1881 that a novel solution to the problem was first given a public airing. The Lynton & Lynmouth Recorder received a letter, signed only with the non-de-plume Pro Bono Publico, proposing: “A tramway between the two towns to be worked by a stationary engine at Lynton, the motive power being taken from the River Lyn, put in tanks on rolling carriages and these let down the tramway under proper control. The weight of the water going down would, with the application of simple machinery, bring up anything that might be desired from Lynmouth … Lynmouth would become more important as a port for the surrounding districts, as goods could then be more easily carted inland; and visitors would find it a great benefit, for instead of climbing the hill, they could be drawn up in a comfortable carriage.”

found i on the map...
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=hill&sll=51.230081,-3.831525&sspn=0.028754,0.074072&ie=UTF8&radius=1.6&rq=1&ll=51.227743,-3.82144&spn=0.028756,0.074072&z=14
lynmouth hill is towards the middle.

oh.. here we go...

Countisbury Hill

About 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) to the west of Porlock Hill, the A39 starts its equivalent descent from the hills of Exmoor. Within about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi), the road descends the 400 m (1,300 ft) it had previously climbed. Unlike Porlock Hill, this section is relatively straight down into Lynmouth village where there is a bridge over the river and a sharp left turn. From this point, the road largely follows the track of the old Lynton & Barnstaple Railway that was abandoned in 1935. The maximum gradient on the railway was 1 in 50 (5%) and the road follows this for around 8 kilometres (5.0 mi). The original road between Lynmouth and Lynton was much more challenging with gradients of around 1 in 3 (30%). It is now the B3234, Lynmouth Hill.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A39_road <covers both porlock hill and lymouth hill on the a39.. porlock up to 25% with hairpins.. lymouth a nice steady 30%

 

[dgodave]

DIM... I looked it up on google earth. Beautiful. Lots of photos posted. I want to go there and perhaps even ride a bike, if I can avoid the 30% section.
.

 

[Anonymous]

Hardknott Pass in the Lake District is also 30% but never climbed that so dunno how tough it is..

think thats officially britains steepest cos its 30% all the way, but im happy with lynmouth at 30% in most places..

going up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDJxSGRf29k<motorbike
going up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAHfpXFH8PY<by bike, part 1..

going down http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PzfPadCbBw

 

[Anonymous]

DIM... I looked it up on google earth. Beautiful. Lots of photos posted. I want to go there and perhaps even ride a bike, if I can avoid the 30% section.
.

that whole section of north devon is amazing, from lynton, lymouth, out through rocky valley, some great rides over exmoor etc, lundy island of the north coast.. ..
i live 50 miles south in exeter, but actually went on holiday to north devon a few years back, 50 miles from home, just to see it all..

if you look at the pictures around the bus stop there a couple of pictures that show the start of the hill.. sadly none of the hill itself.. the follow the road west out of lynton to valley of the rocks.. stunning coastline..

sometimes we take it for granted living down here.. sometimes we wake up and realise just what an amazing place we live in...

Dim
slowly turning the thread into an advert for the devon tourist board..

 

[elapid]

Hardknott Pass in the Lake District is also 30% but never climbed that so dunno how tough it is..

think thats officially britains steepest cos its 30% all the way, but im happy with lynmouth at 30% in most places..

Oh, that hurts! Happy climbing.

 

[Anonymous]

Oh, that hurts! Happy climbing.

nope.. just suggested lynmouth hill to the wife and got "That" expression..

 

[elapid]

Ha - know that expression. That's my wife pushing her bike up the hill in the Burren. Hills are not the only time I get THAT expression though!

 

[titan_90]

Where I live we don't have long hills just short and steep. I have been up a few leg breakers but I have no idea of %'s.

Every Novenber in Pittsburg which is about an hour and a half from me, they have a ride called The Dirty Dozen, which goes up 13 of Pittsburg's steepest hills. One hill Canton Ave. is 38% plus it's cobbled. One of these years I must get my **** down there to try this ride

A pic of the hill http://www.dannychew.com/05ddJoeRossSteveCummings.jpg
Ride Website http://www.dannychew.com/dd.html
Barbara Howe's Cyclingnews.com Diary entry of the ride http://www.cyclingnews.com/riders/2007/diaries/barbarella/?id=barbarella0721
Pittsburgh Dirty Dozen Canton Ave 2007 Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxWceFTkLRU

 

[dgodave]

Back in 1988 I rode from Oregon to Maine. We climbed Hwy 14alt from Lovell WY into the bighorns. Fully loaded touring bikes.
.
Start 3800 ft
top 9600 ft
thats 5800 feet gain, or about 1800 meters
mostly 10% grade
ouch
.

.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

I have never ridden it, nor will I, but I'm calling riding from Hilo to Mauna Kea the most difficult climb on Earth. Sea level to nearly 14,000' in one push, with numerous long grades over 20% near the top. Some stretches are still mostly just oiled dirt, and questionably rideable, but parts of Mt. Washington are gravel. Little by little Mauna Kea gets paved. One of these years it will all be pavement.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Sonora Pass and the Pacific Grade have long pushes over 20%, at 9,000'. Have only ridden the latter.

Onion Valley Road, Rock Creek Road, Sabrina Basin, Whitney Portal, and Horseshoe Canyon Road in the Sierras are harder however. Onion Valley is a murderous brute of a climb. Long, relentless, and steeper as it gets higher.