[Closed] What's the steepest trail you know you should be able to climb but can't?

[i]Somehow I think there'll be more of these oop north than darn sarf![/i]

ridden up much of the north escarpment of the South Downs when it's wet?

having said that, this one's to the South of the SDW and a right git in the wet on a singlespeed - it's bare chalk all the way up and traction is a nightmare;

[url= http://app.strava.com/segments/1223464 ]http://app.strava.com/segments/1223464[/url]

last 150yds of ladys edge on the quantocks.

steep, loose and sharp rise in gradient at the end of a long climb.

climb up from Watendlath on Borrowdale Bash?

ridden up much of the north escarpment of the South Downs when it's wet?

You mean the chalky/rocky bits (east of Devils Dyke IIRC?)?

South Downs out of Kingston to the SDW taking the right hand track. Nice mix of rutted chalk with a layer of gravel.I get up it but always lose traction at some point and put a foot down. With my puny legs my lowest gear of 32/32 and makes it difficult to keep enough of my enormous 55kg over the back wheel. But I will do it one day.

Still haven't ever managed the top 5/10 meters or so of Jacob's Ladder 🙁

The last section up to the tower on Leith Hill. Have never cleaned it - made it 95% of the way loads of time but always come a cropper at the top. Have given up attempting it on a singlespeed though.

first climb from rivi road onto spittlers edge, should be doable but haven't yet.
zig zags at start of skiddaw
cold side to hollins cross (side of mam tor)
there was a climb near darwen tower too but I cleaned it the other week 🙂

climb up from Watendlath on Borrowdale Bash?

Still haven't ever managed the top 5/10 meters or so of Jacob's Ladder

*promoted to full godhood on proof of a 100% clean obviously 🙂

The last section up to the tower on Leith Hill. Have never cleaned it - made it 95% of the way loads of time but always come a cropper at the top. Have given up attempting it on a singlespeed though.

Really? That's pretty easy when you're half fit. Maybe you're not zig-zagging enough?

I'm surrounded by big hills I can't get up without walking/crying.

My personal nemesis is Rooley Moor Road. I hate it! From Rochdale to Cragg Quarry is 1100ft of climbing in one go. But its the little kicks in the middle where it suddenly goes really steep when I'm already blowing out my arse. I've never made it all the way up in one go. Looks fairly innocuous, doesn't it? It isn't!

[img] [/img]

But it just goes on, and on, and on. The suffering is worth it for the 4 mile descent home, that awaits over the other side 😀

tmb467 - good call. Hoping to nail it this summer on my Five, after several 'almosts' on a Patriot.

You'd need to be a total animal to get up that climb from Watendlath - way out of the league of most riders I would have thought.

Back of Jacobs ladder (Coldwell clough) and Hagg Farm climb are two in the Peak that are v difficult, but always feel should be doable on my best day. With a following wind. And the stars aligned. Hagg farm has a horrible corner though close to the top.
Coldwell clough is also in a mess from the rain at the mo, so isn't doable at all under current conditions.

Cam agonisingly close to cleaning the Howden Burn climb (Dreghorn) in the Pentlands a couple of times, but never did it. It's been smoothed over now so I guess you could winch up it OK at a slow pace.

The last section up to the tower on Leith Hill. Have never cleaned it - made it 95% of the way loads of time but always come a cropper at the top. Have given up attempting it on a singlespeed though.
Really? That's pretty easy when you're half fit. Maybe you're not zig-zagging enough?

Probably - I always end up stuck on the left side, which turns into a rutty, steep bugger. 🙁

Fireroad back to the top of Stainburn 🙁

do you mean you've attempted every part and cleaned each section on JL except the top 10m or are we in the presence of a climbing (demi*) god and you regularly ride all the way up but fall at the final hurdle?

*promoted to full godhood on proof of a 100% clean obviously

Back of Jacob's used to be doable (5 years ago), but I haven't managed that the last 3 times of trying.

There are a couple of local trails that keep catching me out too, but I'm the kind of person who will go back and try again and again if I'm on my own.

Coldwell clough is also in a mess from the rain at the mo, so isn't doable at all under current conditions

There's climbs that you get into, absolutely throw everything you've got at, turn yourself inside, scorch your lungs, shred your legs, wrench your arms and ultimately fail. Falling to the floor in a gibbering shaking hyperventilating wreck, broken, once the multicoloured spots have gone form your vision your legs will still be screwed for the rest of the ride but you'll happily give it another go next time you ride that trail. Then there's stuff like coldwell where first time your rear wheel kicks 2' sideways you think "**** it" and start walking.

but each to their own, maybe some people feel like that about coldwell.

Yes, although it's a couple of years ago now.

Re Watendlath climb

I always feel I should be able to get a bit higher up than I ever do

most times i even struggle to get over the initial step up onto it!

Stonor Chilterns, it's not that long, but it's pretty stern from the get go, and there's a nasty little left hander in the middle that's just a git, after that it's just a slog up to the top.

D0NK - Member

Coldwell clough is also in a mess from the rain at the mo, so isn't doable at all under current conditions

has it ever been? Demoralising that one, don't think I've been tempted to give it a proper go (only been up 2 or 3 times). Steep straight so far, so meh, liberally covered in baby's head rocks, horrible.

There's climbs that you get into, absolutely throw everything you've got at, turn yourself inside, scorch your lungs, shred your legs, wrench your arms and ultimately fail. Falling to the floor in a gibbering shaking hyperventilating wreck, broken, once the multicoloured spots have gone form your vision your legs will still be screwed for the rest of the ride but you'll happily give it another go next time you ride that trail. Then there's stuff like coldwell where first time your rear wheel kicks 2' sideways you think "**** it" and start walking.

but each to their own, maybe some people feel like that about coldwell.

Coldwell clough was 'improved' last year irc which smoothed it out no end, definitely do-able last time I was up there a couple of months ago.
The one I always fail on is the climb to the barn from Ladybower up to WLT, three steps from the barn gate every bloody time!

Stainburn black back up.

Done each section individually at some point or other but cannot for the life of me piece it together into one consistent run.

twang - agree - 2 bike length every bloody time!! Done it once EVER

Looks fairly innocuous, doesn't it?

I've seen steeper climbs in Essex 😀

Stainburn black back up

The climb up beside the garden centre in Guiseley. Think it's called Fairy Dell.

I ride my CX bike up the black run at Aston Hill.

It's ok unless you meet some idiot coming down too fast.

The climb behind the Poets pub at Ashover (heading away from the pub not towards). Can get so close, but never seem to hit it when the conditions are right

I've seen steeper climbs in Essex

Pfft! Anyone from Essex would be getting altitude sickness at the top of there! 😉

The one in the woods behind Nationwide in Swindon. Obviously.

Back of Crooks Peak on Mendip, starts off nice then just goes up through 3 rock chutes with breathers inbetween, I will do it one day.
Cheddar rock garden, more commonly know as a descent, just a little bit thrutchy in places and the rocks are randomly random, just where you don't need them to be such

thrutchy

Eh? Wossat then?

[i] just a little bit thrutchy in places[/i]

you are Guy Kesteven and I claim my £5 reward 🙂

Concrete hill on porridgepot, nr pirbright barracks.

I couldn't do it for ages - although the surface is good for traction I couldn't keep the front wheel down. Then I cracked it, with a change in technique, now it's doable every time. Except - then I went to 1*10 on my 29er, and it got hard again on the leg side of things. Took a few tries before sorting that out. So that just left single speed. It was claimed to be doable, but I didn't believe it (unless you specifically went out one day with a silly low ss gear just to claim you'd done it). And then two weeks ago, on a trolls ride I actually saw with my own eyes, one guy fail just where the concrete runs out but it goes to loose dust and gravel, followed by a genuine, witnessed ss clearance of the whole thing.

So now I know it can be done, ergo I should be able to do it, but I can't.

witnessed ss clearance of the whole thing.

That's one of the benefits of SSing ... getting in that groove where you HAVE to attack so many bits of trail. Gets you fit, eh!

Eh? Wossat then?

witnessed ss clearance of the whole thing.

That's one of the benefits of SSing

Singlespeeders are really handy to have around, as when they inevitably get off on a big, steep nasty climb to push, you can hop off too. Then you can make it look like a noble act of brotherly solidarity, as opposed to a not even remotely noble act of can't-be-arsed-riding-up-that-big-hill-ness 😀

"go on, lets see you attempt this" and wait for inevitable failure

Absolutely. Those that make it up ba5tard climbs do gain a degree of man respect though!

My nemisis is the sandy bridalway that leads up St Martha's hill to the church at the top(nr Guildford). Singlespeed hell. Sometimes I clean it, sometimes it cleans me. It's not so much the gradient as the sand...

Then you can make it look like a noble act of brotherly solidarity,

once one has failed many shall follow 😉

Stonor Chilterns, it's not that long, but it's pretty stern from the get go, and there's a nasty little left hander in the middle that's just a git, after that it's just a slog up to the top.

I know where you mean but I think the harder is the southern end of Wormesly where you cross a private road and head up a tunnel which is very steep, loose and with a big trough in the middle and steep sides. When you get to the top you turn left onto a very steep metalled track.

I always struggle on the last few step-ups before the fireroad on the initial section of the Innerleithen XC. The bit up to join the fireroad (that goes left to the top of Caddon Bank). I never have enough power left if I've climbed it in one push up to there 🙁

Re Watendlath climb

I always feel I should be able to get a bit higher up than I ever do
most times i even struggle to get over the initial step up onto it!

I can confirm that the step has become larger - failed on friday. 😳

The climb up beside the garden centre in Guiseley. Think it's called Fairy Dell.

I know exactly where you mean! It's an absolute sod that continues to frustrate me too. On a good run I'll make it over the steps but it's that last 5 yards over the lip that's proved impossible so far. The rocky section after that is usually a relief 😉

I'm sure 90% of it's a mind game though cause you've got all that time climbing the steep road section before it to think about all the different ways you could fail to ride it again. Just typing this now has guaranteed I won't make it up there next time 🙁

The climb up to Loch Humphrey in the Killpatrick hills. Brutal and relentless.
Done it a good few times when I was much younger and fitter but must be 10 years plus since ive managed it..

Great thread.
avdave2 - That Kingston climb is a killer, it's the 2nd 20%+ ramp that doess me every time, always lose traction as I'm redlining by then and can't move about the bike well enough. Usually not helped by walkers coming down the trail and not moving out of the way, despite the fact there's A MUCH NICER FOOTPATH DOWN NOT 20 F-ING METRES AWAY WHICH WE'RE NOT ALLOWED TO CYCLE DOWN. As I wheeze to a stop before hitting them, they often then twist the knife by saying something like "ran out of steam, eh?". Shitpuzzles, all of them...

The permissive bridleway next to Ladybower (the one with the cross road junction at the top) always gave me trouble but I cleared it for the first time last Saturday. I'm pretty heavy though and not very good at climbing.

adsh, the climb into Northend? Nah not as bad as Stonor, I can do the Wormsley estate climb on my SS.

Doh!

last 150yds of ladys edge on the quantocks.

steep, loose and sharp rise in gradient at the end of a long climb.

That one's relatively easy compared to the climb to the right at the bottom of Smiths Combe, I've only managed it twice in 20 years and only seen one other person ride it.

bridge too far up to the bottom of the nutcracker.. just too relentlessly steep and techy (I'm sure that I've seen Sharki do this)

On the other side of the valley, the bridge too far descent in reverse is the same.. I've gotten within spitting distance of clearing it in the past but no cigar (bar the S-bends at the bottom, I would love to see someone ride [i]up[/i] them)

peck farm to hunters tor.. not stupidly technical or steep or long, but those step ups are a pain in the bollocks on (invariably) knackered legs and lungs

all East Dartmoor

My mate rode all of the Col Du Cou on an Orange Patriot that must've weighed nigh on 36-38lbs. (maybe more)
I didn't, on something much lighter.

His dad was a mountain goat though.

Turn hard right at the bottom of Evian on Winterfold. Very, very steep, rooty and eroded. I've seen one person clean it, so I know I really should be able to, but it's all about line choice and I seem to make poor choices...

Concrete hill on Porridge is great for hill reps 🙂

@gee indeed that's a buggar although to be honest I have it classified as "impossible"

Of the climbs that I think should be doable the footpath (oops) from top car park on Pitch to the Trig point, have got close a few times so I feel it's do-able

Saw some pretty impressive climbing in the Peaks from the locals on those long rocky bridleways

I have noticed the chain reaction effect on group rides, everyone grinding up the hill someone upfront gets to a tricky bit and stalls and loads of people behind see and instantly unclip and start pushing despite being on a relatively easy bit themselves, tis a sight to behold.

Most climbs i cannot do I am no where near being able to do there are some on the SS i might one day clean locally - no DONK not San Marino.

* unless you are hungover then i let you know what it is like to follow you 😈

I cleaned leith hill (steep side) on my ss the other day, was well happy, but my lungs nearly came out 🙂

(its pretty simple with gears though)

Another useful climbing technique for long hills is to be at the front as you hit the up ramp. Then drop slowly back through the group as you climb, chatting on the way, to join the back riders and give them encouragement. The fast boys think you are very sociable for dropping back, the slow ones think by the way you can chat to them you must be fit. But in reality, you started first and finished last which is the definition of being the slowest!

DirtyLyle I'm going to get up it even if it kills me. I first tried it over 25 years ago but it was even worse back then as there was even more gravel on it than there is now. For years I've been taking the left hand fork which is still a hard climb at the bottom but last year I found myself riding for a bit with a guy who was going to go up the right hand side so I thought I'd give it another go. You're right about the second ramp, you think you've cracked it and then you find yourself looking at the steepest bit. It's my personal North Face of the Eiger!

Not a hill but a stupid bridge.

It's on one of my routes up the river and its a short humpy thing with 2x1 slats on it to aid grip for walkers when it's wet, it has handrails, it has that slatted "decking" type floorboards as it arches over a wetland outlet.

I have been riding this route for easily 15yrs now and I have yet to bunny hop on to it, ride it and bunny hop off.

Still, make for a nice stop point to gaze at the river and all the moored yachts ..

Jacobs ladder? My challange is hagg side the last few rocky meters always defeat me, i could use the chicken run on the bank to the right but i'd know.
Might aswell add most of the climbs around that area though strangley i like rushup climbing from royce.

Leith Hill to the Tower isn't easy.
I was pretty chuffed to do it in a minute recently (spurred on by some tourists), until I noticed someone had done it in 26 seconds, but I call cheat on that one - or they probably ran up.

I used to be able to climb up the Downs Link on St Martha's (from the Chilworth/Blackheath side) and should still be able to do it, but for some reason I really can't manage it any more!! I don't know if the profile has changed or I have just lost it with that particular climb. Very annoying!!

Come on Binners, even i can do Rooley Moor in one go on a 33lb pig iron Wolf Ridge!

My personal nemesis is one i call Pig Hill, the really steep and twisty BW from Bottomley towards Yorkshire on the Mary Towneley loop. Its really narrow, extremely steep and made out of slippy sandstone setts - plus, it has 4" high vertical slabs every so often mostly at the steepest bit!

There is horrid climb on Cademuir hill near Peebles. I think it is on the Pilots Trail. Has a wall on the left and can be quite slippy. Never managed it yet

I feel good now adsh as I cleared the wormsley climb you describe twice recently. It is s bugger though. Will have another go at stonor soon.

Mine is the innocuous looking suffer fest that is hill 91 which climbs up to the woods from flaunden bottom near latimer. An utter pig.

Jacob's Ladder for me too. I've done all of it in bits so the 'only' thing I'm lacking is the fitness to do it all the way. It's pretty much the only MTB goal I've set myself. I have a plan though. Lower my forks down to 100mm or so, stick a massive back tyre on at about 20psi, run a 22t chainring (I'm 1x10 currently) and grind up it, tractor style. Possibly considered cheating? One day...

The other one is the beast, going up. Again, all doable but bastard hard if you go all the way from the bottom.

Both are the perfect mix of technical difficulty, gradient and length imo. You need to be both technically good and really fit.

Amazed at how many people are so close to being able to climb Jacob's... anyway, I give you the irritating little climb up from Kinder Reservoir, not the cobbled one, though that's annoyingly nadgery after you turn left at the top off the cobbles, but the short grassy one up towards Kinder.

Also vaguely trying is New Allotments, which throws a messy mix of ruts and rubbish at you right at the top and seems to be a 50/50 sort of affair. The kick climb out of the stream after the little building at the top of the cobbled stretch heading up towards WLT. And oddly the bit on the Roych heading towards Rushup to the right of the big bed-rock steps which is getting progressively harder to clean every year and is much steeper than it is for some reason. That and the randomness of Potato Alley.

And several other Peak climbs.

Turn hard right at the bottom of Evian on Winterfold. Very, very steep, rooty and eroded. I've seen one person clean it, so I know I really should be able to, but it's all about line choice and I seem to make poor choices...

Is Evian the trail that has the steep roll-in half way along and ends at the pond? That climb on the right is mighty steep. Gets me puffing just pushing the bike up it.

Re Watendlath climb.
I consider it a triumph if I make it past the wall. Only ever done it a handful of times.

The short sharp shock at the start of Lonscale Fell from Skiddaw House end. Rocky and quite often wet.

[i]but the short grassy one up towards Kinder[/i]

gravity is very concentrated on that hill...

I used to be able to climb up the Downs Link on St Martha's (from the Chilworth/Blackheath side

Is that the gully climb (with a bit of pipework sticking out the ground part way up) that starts to the right of the big house at the bottom? I reckon that would be a ****er on a bike,

Superficial - Member

Jacob's Ladder for me too. I've done all of it in bits so the 'only' thing I'm lacking is the fitness to do it all the way. It's pretty much the only MTB goal I've set myself. I have a plan though. Lower my forks down to 100mm or so, stick a massive back tyre on at about 20psi, run a 22t chainring (I'm 1x10 currently) and grind up it, tractor style. Possibly considered cheating? One day...

The other one is the beast, going up. Again, all doable but bastard hard if you go all the way from the bottom.

Both are the perfect mix of technical difficulty, gradient and length imo. You need to be both technically good and really fit.

Apparently that first bit didn't used to be so bad and us w/e warriors could put a wee dent in it?

Gee, Jambalaya - that right off Evian is nasty for sure. I'd be impressed to see anyone get up it. Probably managed about 50%.
The St. Martha's climb is downright nasty, especially if you start from the Percy and use that brick bridle to get your lungs working.
My other killer is Jabba. The straight up (west) climb from the sawmill in Dick Focks Wood. Absolute barsteward!!!

Have you been up Jacobs recently Superficial?

Not in the last few months, no. Maybe it's changed for the worse? All this talk has inspired me to go and have a go, though.

I've never managed to get up the evil climb on the beast at CYB - not sure what its called but it has a large rock/step in the middle. 1x10 doesn't help either...

Amazed at how many people are so close to being able to climb Jacob's.

If anyone ventures into the foothills of the Cheviots in Northumberland, give Whiteburnshank a look. On the right day, in the right conditions and a steely determination it's doable. I've done it 2 or 3 times but have bailed out countless more. Proper hills up here...

Dumyat.

On 8 separate days I can most likely ride up the 8 most difficult bits of the hill. Try stringing it together though...
And then there's the 9th bit. Summitting Dumyat should be held on par with the Bealach na Bà.

EDIT: How could I forget Puke Hill. Although I suppose the thread is about climbs you think you can make. Puke Hill is my Hell. Forget your "feel the pain of every bee you fed to the spider at the back of the shed" nonsense. Puke Hill, forever.

last 150yds of ladys edge on the quantocks

Dude that not so bad. Climb out of Smiths is considerably tougher.

Some of the limestone climbs on Mendip make the Qs seem like a family outing.