Any links or explanations on the calculations for classifing hill climbs?
~Matt
It goes (from easiest to hardest) 4,3,2,1 HC meaning hors categorie (i.e. beyond classification - horrible). Interestingly some of the borderline climbs change classification from year to year depending on when they occur in a stage.
I understand that just wondering what is it takes to get a class, 1 vs class 4 etc. I’d guess it some combination of length and grade but not sure. Could a really long non steep hill be a class 1 were as a very short but really steep hill be a class 4?
~Matt
That shut me up didn’t it (!) - ten minutes on google is all I can afford let me know if you figure it out
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Thanks. Pretty much what I was looking for.
Also cool they list some of the US climbs that are Cat1’s. Not that I have ANY intention of doing one.
~Matt
Cool, I wonder how they would rate the Wintergreen climb in VA or Brasstown Bald in GA? The Mt. Washington hill climb has to be a HC climb, right?
Dave in VA
Just to see if I got this correct.
Mt Washington climb info.
Terminus 6288 ft. (1916.58 meters)
Base (Toll House) 1565 ft. (477 meters)
Elevation gain 4727 ft. (1440.79 meters)
Length 7.6 miles (12.23 kilometers)
Grade Avg.12%, extended 18%, final 100 yds. 22%
Road surface 65% paved, 35% packed gravel
So a total climb of 4727 ft at a grade of 12%.
I’m guessing, and since the rating is a bit “Subjective”, that’s ok, it would be a Hors clinmb. 4727 is at the upper limit of Cat 1 and the grade is WAY over the top. Add in that some of the road is gravel, 700mph winds…that sounds pretty horrible to me.
~Matt
Tyler Hamilton (who?) has said that Mt Washington was WAY harder than Alpe du Huez. Myabe that was back before he started PED’s? 
Of course, when climbing Mt Washington, you typically didn’t hafta ride for 100 miles just to get to the base of it first.
Definitely HC.
What about Brasstown Bald, the pros looked like they really struggled up that climb on TV.
Dave in VA
The problem with this is that there are so many variables thrown in that change the classification of a particular climb that the numbers are wrong more then right. Gradient, where on a stage, road condition, time of year even comes in. It’s really more subjective then anything else. I rode Skyline Drive and the first 10k is uphill at an average of 6% about the same as the Col De Telegraphe, but I doubt it would be a Cat. 1 climb.
Thanks for the info. Interesting.
Let me one of the first to say that I think the approach to categorizing climbs is bullshit. I don’t think where the climb is located on the stage should effect the number - the riders know that a cat 2 climb is harder to do in the later parts of the stage and so would the public. I think it should simply be static factors that are measured…that is: average grade, distance, elevation gain, road surface (perhaps).
Actually, did just that, in June of 92, when there was a New Hampshire stage race (omnium really). Steven Swart won the stage I think, a 100 mile RR that concluded with a climb of Mt. Washington. It was quite horrific. It was quite cold too.