Toughest Climb in Ireland?

Redmonda · 02-07-2009 1:26am

My vote goes to the Puy de Lisselton in North Kerry.

ROK ON · 19-07-2009 2:01pm

I climbed Priests Leap this morning from the Kenmare side It is the toughest climb that I have climbed.
While the avg gradient is 9%, the road is often around 13-15%, and I saw a max of 22% on my Garmin. For most of these sections I was cycling at a mind boggling 5-6km/h, just struggling to turn pedals while fighting to stay upright.
At one stage I did a wheelie and ended up falling off and getting a bad cut. I got out of saddle and bike wheelied and I just went splat. You gain four hundred and fifty meters in about four and three qtr kms. The road is a boreen that is full of sheep s**t. You can't actually zig zag across the boreen due to grass middle and the gravel.
The descent is the scariest thing that I have ever done and I really like descending.

Road from top to Ballylickey is trecherous. I almost crashed into sheep several times.

Close to bottom was chased by 2 dogs.

It is however doable and I got up in one go apart from the fall. I was in the triple all of the way up. You get to this lookout point at four hundred and thirty meters and then actually descend before climbing to 466m.
Pretty happy in that my HOUR stayed in low 170's for most of the climb which made it more manageable than I thought.
Max HR was 192 as I 'sprinted' for what I thought was the peak.

Ye all should try it once. There are no climbs in wicklow like it IMHO.
The climb is manageable for me, however the descent is sheer lunacy.

johnnyc · 19-07-2009 5:26pm

ah just wondering what would be the gradient of the healy pass between Adrigole in Co. Cork and Lauragh in Co. Kerry?

ednwireland · 19-07-2009 6:01pm

ROK ON wrote: »

For most of these sections I was cycling at a mind boggling 5-6km/h, just struggling to turn pedals while fighting to stay upright.

i find all climbs like this at the moment :mad:

i let you know after i do glengesh

johnnyc · 19-07-2009 6:07pm

ROK ON wrote: »

I climbed Priests Leap this morning from the Kenmare side It is the toughest climb that I have climbed.
While the avg gradient is 9%, the road is often around 13-15%, and I saw a max of 22% on my Garmin. For most of these sections I was cycling at a mind boggling 5-6km/h, just struggling to turn pedals while fighting to stay upright.
At one stage I did a wheelie and ended up falling off and getting a bad cut. I got out of saddle and bike wheelied and I just went splat. You gain four hundred and fifty meters in about four and three qtr kms. The road is a boreen that is full of sheep s**t. You can't actually zig zag across the boreen due to grass middle and the gravel.
The descent is the scariest thing that I have ever done and I really like descending.

Road from top to Ballylickey is trecherous. I almost crashed into sheep several times.

Close to bottom was chased by 2 dogs.

It is however doable and I got up in one go apart from the fall. I was in the triple all of the way up. You get to this lookout point at four hundred and thirty meters and then actually descend before climbing to 466m.
Pretty happy in that my HOUR stayed in low 170's for most of the climb which made it more manageable than I thought.
Max HR was 192 as I 'sprinted' for what I thought was the peak.

Ye all should try it once. There are no climbs in wicklow like it IMHO.
The climb is manageable for me, however the descent is sheer lunacy.

That road is between killgarvan and Ballylickey am i right thats a tough climb...drove up it theres barely room for 2 cars.

ROK ON · 19-07-2009 6:13pm

Just under 4% from Adrigole and 4.5% from Laragh.

johnnyc wrote: »

ah just wondering what would be the gradient of the healy pass between Adrigole in Co. Cork and Lauragh in Co. Kerry?

michaelm · 19-07-2009 6:56pm

Just a thought! Why not get a plan going to rate and sign say the top 10 climbs in Ireland. From a previous project I was involved in I found Fáilte Ireland, local county councils and Cycling Ireland quite open to projects such as this. All it would involve is putting a sign at the bottom of each hill with the name, average and max gradient and total length. All of the climbs on the Tour of Flanders have this and as such are widely renowned as a result. This could be of benefit to local tourism as people would want to travel to take on some of the challenges. They may, in time, form the basis of some charity challenges ("four peaks" etc).

By the way, as previously posted, my own nomination is one near where I live. Known as "Step" it is situated near the village of Silvermines, approx 10Km from Nenagh in Tipp. It featured on the Tour of Ireland Sportive for the last two years so will be familiar to come of you here.

ROK ON · 19-07-2009 7:51pm

@ Michaelm - great idea.

@johnnyc.the road from Kilgarvan to Ballylicky is Borlin Valley. It joins the Priest Leap road at the bottom at Coomholla Bridge.

blorg · 19-07-2009 7:55pm

michaelm wrote: »

By the way, as previously posted, my own nomination is one near where I live. Known as "Step" it is situated near the village of Silvermines, approx 10Km from Nenagh in Tipp. It featured on the Tour of Ireland Sportive for the last two years so will be familiar to come of you here.

Haha, they actually took it out this year because it was considered just too horrible and broke up the groups entirely... I had heard about and been worried about it all day and only realised once the day was done that we weren't actually going over it.

biker_joe · 19-07-2009 8:49pm

For those of you on a north county training spins there is at short sharp shocker that goes over Bellewstown race course 14% ..... from Dunleek head out the R160 east, and take the right turn over the bridge, brings you up to race course at bellewstown, it is a sucker punch !!!

thebouldwhacker · 19-07-2009 10:36pm

ROK ON wrote: »

I climbed Priests Leap this morning The descent is the scariest thing that I have ever done and I really like descending.

Well done ROK, slap on the back... thats a hard climb make no mistake!

I did it from the Cork side a few weeks back, The descent on the Kerry side is no better, between the fear of over shooting a bend, hitting a pothole or a sheep it was brakes all the way own for me. I'm gonna hit it again next week or the week after, havent made it in one go yet but I use a double, thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it:D.

Sorry to hear about the fall hope you and bike are ok, I'm sure it was worth it!

Well done again!!

Raam · 20-07-2009 12:04am

biker_joe wrote: »

For those of you on a north county training spins there is at short sharp shocker that goes over Bellewstown race course 14% ..... from Dunleek head out the R160 east, and take the right turn over the bridge, brings you up to race course at bellewstown, it is a sucker punch !!!

Yeah that's a nice one! Very intimidating as you approach it.

oheilis · 20-07-2009 12:26am

blorg wrote: »

Haha, they actually took it out this year because it was considered just too horrible and broke up the groups entirely... I had heard about and been worried about it all day and only realised once the day was done that we weren't actually going over it.

Didn't do TOI this year, but did it the previous two years. Have 'fond' memories of that climb alright. I'd class it as one of the toughest I've ever done in Ireland.

Tough choice between that and the time myself and a few friends went down to follow the Mt. Leinster Challenge route, but on the 2nd ascent of Mt. Leinster decided we'd go up to the tv transmitter. That was rough going, didn't have a fancy computer at the time, but I remember unintentionally pulling wheelies on several occasions, which doesn't happen too often.

cantalach · 20-07-2009 10:55am

ROK ON wrote: »

I climbed Priests Leap this morning from the Kenmare side It is the toughest climb that I have climbed.

Haha, this thread just doesn't want to die. Glad you agree with my take on the Priest's Leap. One of our gang refers to it a category C climb. This is not a term you'll hear used by the Eurosport commentary team (the 'C' stands for a very rude word).

I've never actually climbed it from the Kenmare side though. It seems to have a more constant gradient from that side, lacking the vicious pitches you get from the Coomhola Bridge side. I suppose you can see this as a positive if you're the type who prefers to find a rhythm or a negative if you like an occasional flat section on which to catch your breath.

FrankGrimes · 20-07-2009 11:32am

@michaelm - that's a great idea, wonder what would be required to get that off the ground? Could probably get a consensus on here about a draft list of the Top 10 and the selection criteria to be included with the proposal. Wouldn't cost an arm and a leg but then again I can't see there being much spare budget in many places at the moment.

rottenhat · 20-07-2009 11:40am

Well, here's the list from the Challenge BIG website:

Ireland
53 Gap of Mamore
54 Grianan of Aileach
55 Glengesh Pass
56 Cliffs of Moher
57 Connor Pass
58 Coomakesta Pass
59 Ballaghasheen Pass
60 Ballaghbeama Gap
61 Healy Pass
62 Mullaghanish
63 Slieve Bloom Mountain
64 Sally Gap
65 Wicklow Gap

You could use that as a starting point for discussion.

Of course those climbs aren't selected solely on the basis of difficulty e.g. there's nothing very hard about Healy Pass, but it is stunningly beautiful when you get up there.

michaelm · 20-07-2009 1:02pm

Thanks for the positive reaction. I believe the cost of this would be miniscule in relation to the benefits. I would also imagine it would be split three ways: Fáilte Ireland, the relevant county council and perhaps another group such as the Irish Sports Council or Cycling Ireland. The most difficult part of the project would be deciding what criteria should be used for selecting the climbs and then making the final decision. From my previous project I found most progress was made when I approacehd the relevant agencies with most of the work already done. I believe the same would work here. What do others think?

alfalad · 20-07-2009 4:32pm

biker_joe wrote: »

For those of you on a north county training spins there is at short sharp shocker that goes over Bellewstown race course 14% ..... from Dunleek head out the R160 east, and take the right turn over the bridge, brings you up to race course at bellewstown, it is a sucker punch !!!

My bro lives near there and it is quite a climb. When i was a kid I was going to play a football match and the bus couldn't get up it even with the run up, had to turn at a gate and go a diff way!

To show my agri roots i also have gone up it in a tractor and it's not fun, i would have walked up quicker!

ROK ON · 20-07-2009 5:24pm

rottenhat wrote: »

Well, here's the list from the Challenge BIG website:

You could use that as a starting point for discussion.

Of course those climbs aren't selected solely on the basis of difficulty e.g. there's nothing very hard about Healy Pass, but it is stunningly beautiful when you get up there.

Of those, Ballaghbeama and Ballaghasheen are short but tough.
Coomakkista has stunning scenery, but is pretty easy.
I live on the road to Molls Gap - its a nice climb from Killarney or Gap of Dunloe, but is a more of a drag from Kenmare.

Slieve Blooms are great - Glendine Pass in particular is very tough and stunning.

The more I think about it, Edmondstown road up to Kilakee is a significantly tougher climb than Sally Gap IMO. Close to Sally Gap, the climb overlooking Lough Tay (Lugalla) is a nemisis of mine.
Wicklow Gap - tougher than Sally Gap, but very very doable - surprised not to see Slieve Maan - that is tough tough tough.

blorg · 20-07-2009 5:40pm

ROK ON wrote: »

Wicklow Gap - tougher than Sally Gap, but very very doable - surprised not to see Slieve Maan - that is tough tough tough.

Slieve Maan from the Laragh side is the worst in Wicklow IMHO. But Sally Gap is definitely worse than the Wicklow Gap, unless you are counting Sally Gap as starting in Glencree or the base of Lugalla (e.g. half way up it...)

Wicklow Gap is actually extraordinarily easy the more you do it, you just have to get used to it a bit. Coming from Laragh, there is a small steep bit in the middle, before that bit it is around 2-3% and after the steep bit it is around 4-5%. Easy. The other side hardly registers as a climb.

Raam · 20-07-2009 5:42pm

blorg wrote: »

Wicklow Gap is actually extraordinarily easy the more you do it, you just have to get used to it a bit. Coming from Laragh, there is a small steep bit in the middle, before that bit it is around 2-3% and after the steep bit it is around 4-5%. Easy. The other side hardly registers as a climb.

The Wicklow Gap is uphill???

blorg · 20-07-2009 5:45pm

Raam wrote: »

The Wicklow Gap is uphill???

There is a small uphill section in the middle, beside the carpark

Raam · 20-07-2009 5:47pm

blorg wrote: »

There is a small uphill section in the middle, beside the carpark

I always thought that was a speed bump

ROK ON · 20-07-2009 5:48pm

blorg wrote: »

Slieve Maan from the Laragh side is the worst in Wicklow IMHO. But Sally Gap is definitely worse than the Wicklow Gap, unless you are counting Sally Gap as starting in Glencree or the base of Lugalla (e.g. half way up it...)

Fair point, but where does it start?
Its reasonably easy from Kilbride.
From Laragh, its a climb for a coule of KMs around the Waterfall, from Dublin, the climb is actually to Kilakee.

But yes, from Eniiskerry (either direction out), it is a tougher climb than Wicklow Gap.
PS also agree that Wicklow Gap aint much of a climb from Hollywood.

(I actually can't believe that I am commenting at all on climbs, but sure thats life).

lukester · 20-07-2009 5:49pm

blorg wrote: »

Slieve Maan from the Laragh side is the worst in Wicklow IMHO. .

Raam wrote: »

The Wicklow Gap is uphill???

Did either of you TOI participants encounter anything on it that's tougher than Slieve Maan from Laragh?

DirkVoodoo · 20-07-2009 5:50pm

I was disappointed with the Wicklow gap. After it bested me on the W200 in 2008 and forced my retirement, I had recurring nightmares about doing it again. That week before the 09 W200 when we did it in the sweltering heat, I was quite unimpressed. Granted I was going pretty slow and chatting to Lumen and Raam for most of it, it feels more like a drag than a climb.

Raam · 20-07-2009 5:50pm

lukester wrote: »

Did either of you TOI participants encounter anything on it that's tougher than Slieve Maan from Laragh?

Keeper Hill, which I think is the one Blorg referred to earlier?
It was on the route in 2008, which is the year I did the TOI.

rottenhat · 20-07-2009 5:51pm

well, the Challenge BIG listing would consider Roundwood or Ballyboden Road to be the foot of Sally Gap for the appropriate sides so it would incorporate Lugalla or Edmondstown Rd accordingly. In which case I think you'd agree Sallly Gap is markedly tougher than Wicklow Gap. I'd certainly sub Slieve Maan in over Wicklow Gap which doesn't really have much to recommend it.

Nietzschean · 20-07-2009 5:57pm

rottenhat wrote: »

I'd certainly sub Slieve Maan in over Wicklow Gap which doesn't really have much to recommend it.

Descending it has to be recommended, nothing much about the climb though, other than blorg getting to ensure he was first down for coffee on sat!

bosra · 20-07-2009 6:12pm

Hi
Is there any Irish site that maps out these climbs like slieve Maan..and gives stats on the routes..like distance and elevation you reach etc. I see some routes are posted in a sticky in FAQs..but there is no info on route..maybe i missed it..thanks

Toughest Climb in Ireland?

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