What is the best climb in the United States?
I propose Mt Charleston in Las Vegas, Lee Canyon Side…5,400ft of Climbing over 17 miles. Lets get a TOP 10…
What is the best climb in the United States?
I propose Mt Charleston in Las Vegas, Lee Canyon Side…5,400ft of Climbing over 17 miles. Lets get a TOP 10…
Got to be that crazy climb in Hawaii. I’ll have to find the strava segment. It’s pretty dang epic.
Got it
http://www.strava.com/segments/638944
34.5 miles @ 5%
Sea level to 9900 ft elevation
Oh right the Hawaii climb is crazy, before I was into cycling I went down it on my honeymoon, now I want to go up!
Beartooth Pass along the Montana-Wyoming border. Starts at 5,000 ft, climbs to 11,000 ft.
Mt. Baldy, mt diablo, Gibraltar road in SB. All Cali climbs.
Mt. Diablo…I want to do that climb…CEOIronman…what are the stats (ft and distance) of these?
Messmer Time
www.bikeblastlasvegas.com
Around 26 miles
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Not sure how it compares to some others, but the climb to the top Mt Evans Colorado I believe is about 28 miles, start in the 7200’ range and top out around 14,000’
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Mt. Evans is epic (it’s cliche to define a ride as epic, unless it’s Mt. Evans). Over 7000ft of elevation gain in ~28 miles. You have a starting elevation of ~ 7,526 feet in Idaho Springs, and a finish elevation of 14,284 feet at the summit. It was ~65 degrees F at the ranger station, and hailed on my group coming down last July.
Mt. Washington in NH (race only, can’t be ridden other times), 4700’ in 7.6 miles. This is the toughest mile per mile of any climb in the USA, maybe the world.
Mt. Evans in CO, it is about 7000’ in 30? miles
Mt. Ashland in OR is about 5800’ in 25 miles, although they do a Mountain bike version that cuts the distance down to about 18 miles and keeps the 5800’
I’ll give Whiteface Mtn in NY an honorable mention, about 3600’ in 8 miles, but it is a toll only auto road, so it makes for really nice riding and it is right off the IMLP bike course.
I don’t think your Vegas climb makes the top 10, there are probably at least a half dozen true HC climbs in CO and CA each.
Mt Washington is the steepest avg climb - around 4,000 ft over ~7 miles with 22% grade near the summit. There isn’t a single stretch where you aren’t climbing.
There was a short article on this topic in a recent Bicycle Magazine issue. It compared climbs in the US to those in Europe.
Mt Washington is the steepest avg climb - around 4,000 ft over ~7 miles with 22% grade near the summit. There isn’t a single stretch where you aren’t climbing.
There was a short article on this topic in a recent Bicycle Magazine issue. It compared climbs in the US to those in Europe.
Definitely very hard for most but there must be something steeper? I could name at least 10 European climbs that are the same length or longer and just as steep if not more. Not saying that to say that Europe is better but that I would just be surprised, considering the size of the U.S., that that climb has the steepest average gradient*.
*Obviously taking into account only climbs of a certain length - Let’s say longer than 5 miles
Also it seems much more common to have extremely long climbs with then, naturally, lower average gradients. Not sure if this is a consequence of the routes chosen when the roads were built or if the shapes of the mountains is the main reason.
I could name at least 10 European climbs that are the same length or longer and just as steep if not more.
Then please name them, because I think you are badly misinformed if you think there are any (much less 10) climbs in Europe that average 12% grade for longer than 7.6 miles.
I don’t think any of the major tours have ever done a single climb as hard as Mt. Washington
http://www.theclymb.com/stories/passions/cycle/road-bike-racings-toughest-climbs/
None of these climbs are harder than Mt. Washington, it looks like two of them are comparable (~12% for about 4000’ of gain)
CA Hwy 39 from Azuza to Dawson’s Saddle is 7152 ft: http://www.strava.com/segments/1638547
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I could name at least 10 European climbs that are the same length or longer and just as steep if not more.
Then please name them, because I think you are badly misinformed if you think there are any (much less 10) climbs in Europe that average 12% grade for longer than 7.6 miles.
I don’t think any of the major tours have ever done a single climb as hard as Mt. Washington
http://www.theclymb.com/...ngs-toughest-climbs/
None of these climbs are harder than Mt. Washington, it looks like two of them are comparable (~12% for about 4000’ of gain)
Agreed. I remember the issue of Bicycling Magazine where they compared the climbs. I might even have it laying around somewhere. It was from the August issue I believe because I was up in NH for Timberman when I read it and it made me want to enter the Mt. Washington race. There were very few European climbs at that gradient that were that long.
I’ll throw another Whiteface mention out there. I love doing that climb and in terms of distance/gradient it is almost identical to Alp d’Huez, which is pretty cool.
I’ve never climbed it, but I’ve heard only great things about Mt. Lemmon in Arizona.
http://www.climbbybike.com/climbmobile.asp?Col=Mt.%20Haleakala&qryMountainID=7724
Mt. Haleakala, Maui
Avg 5.3% for 56.9km.
I’ll give Whiteface Mtn in NY an honorable mention, about 3600’ in 8 miles, but it is a toll only auto road, so it makes for really nice riding and it is right off the IMLP bike course. I’ve done that climb twice as the final part of a 75ish-mile road race. Took me an hour to get up it. Very stead grade.
Also, it’s just Whiteface (no Mountain in the name).
Evans and Pike’s Peak are hard, but it is the altitude that makes them challenging.
Kaloko drive outside of Kona is a hard climb, especially if you start by the bike shop and ride from sea level. The sea to Stars race if rough because of the steep grades that are mostly at the end (17-20%) and about 3 hours of nearly constant climbing (45 minutes to an hour Longer than Evans). I have only done the old route up from Hilo and I hear the new one is harder still. If they ever pave the road to the telescopes, it would be truly epic. 13,000+ feet of climbing and probably 4 hours.