| Famous climb |
| Beautiful scenery |
| 4 hairpin turns |
| #3 toughest climb of England |
| #65 most elevation gain of England |
| #47 longest climb of Lake District |
| #31 average steepest climb of England |
Hardknott Pass from Beckfoot is a climb in the region Lake District. It is 2.2km long and bridges 298 vertical meters with an average gradient of 13.5%, resulting in a difficulty score of 448. The top of the ascent is located at 393 meters above sea level. Climbfinder users shared 5 reviews of this climb and uploaded 12 photos.
Road name: Hardknott Pass
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One of the hills on the Fred Whitton Challenge.
Approach from the beautiful Eskdale valley where the anticipation of the climb ahead will build up.
The climb proper starts at the phone box/cattlegrid (grid ref NY211011) with an immediate steep section. The climbing is relentless but eases slightly near the Roman Fort. From here the going gets tougher with the 30％ bend calling for low gears or tough legs, perhaps both.
You will get shouts of encouragement from walkers but watch out for cars.
Once you reach the top have a rest and take in the view and perpared for the scary downhill with steep drops and tight bends.
Road bikes will call for you being on the drops to lever the most from your brakes.
Through the rolling approach from Eksdale, the tension is already starting to build, you know the Lake District beast is coming. At the phone box lies your last chance to call for help. There you turn right and immediately know what time it is with instant percentages to 25％ over the first 'cattle green. Between the ferns you climb through the first part of Hardknott. Smaller hairpin bends saddle you with the dilemma of sitting crawling or dragging yourself up standing. For a moment you can either gasp or gear up, the sight of the 2nd part of the climb will make most mere mortals opt for the former. Because what follows is waarmnzinnig brutal, percentages that reach 33％ and where you have to give everything in you to get to the top. Once at the top, I strongly recommend taking a moment to look back at the fantastic scenery.
Via de glooiende aanloop vanuit Eksdale begint de spanning al toe te nemen, je weet dat het beest van Lake District eraan komt. Aan de telefooncel ligt je laatste kans om hulp te bellen. Daar draai je rechts op en weet je direct hoe laat het is met direct percentages tot 25％ over de eerste 'cattle groen. Tussen de varens klim je door het eerste deel van Hardknott. Kleinere haarspeldbochten zadelen je met het dilemma zittend kruipen of je staand naar boven slepen op. Even kan je uithijgen of bijschakelen, de blik op het 2de deel van de klim zal de meeste gewone stervelingen voor het eerste doen kiezen. Want wat volgt is waarmnzinnig brutaal, percentages die oplopen tot 33％ en waar je alles in je moet geven om boven te komen. Eenmaal op de top raad ik je ten stelligste aan om even achterom te kijken naar het fantastische landschap.
Fantastic climb in a beautiful landscape. It is very steep, but therefore just cool to have done once with the challenge of not having to dismount. Once at the top, you have great views over the valley between Hardknott Pass and Wrynose Pass. The tarmac winds through the landscape like a black lace. The first stretch of descent is also work, but once you've had that there's no turning back to do another monster climb :D
Fantastische klim in een prachtig landschap. Hij is erg steil, maar daarom juist tof om eens gedaan te hebben met als uitdaging om niet af te hoeven stappen. Eenmaal boven heb je een prachtig uitzicht over het dal tussen de Hardknott Pass en de Wrynose Pass. Het asfalt kronkelt als een zwarte veter door het landschap. Het eerste stuk afdalen is ook werken, maar als je dat eenmaal hebt gehad is er geen weg meer terug om nog een monsterbeklimming te doen :D
Absolutely a must-do bucket list climb. Hardknott from Eskdale had become an iconic climb partly because it is on the Fred Whitton sportive route at around the 155km mark. Also the scenery is spectacular, the poor tarmac, bad cambers, streams across the road, stutter bumps and tight hairpins will challenge your bike handling skills and if you do this climb you then have to complete several other tough ones in order to complete any ride. As you can see from the profile it has two very steep sections with a rest in between - there is even a very small (20 metres long) descent near the Roman fort. The data is misleading, however - the steepest section over 100 metres is shown at 22％ whereas there are actually several sections well over 25％ and one is famously well over 30％ - see photos. 80％+ of cyclists get off on this section during the Fred Whitton - I know because I've done this sportive 4 times and taken photos on Hardknott during it many times.
So there is the challenge - not how fast can you get up this climb but can you do it without putting a foot down or stopping, especially if you are over 90kg like me. Bring gears. Big ones.
| 7 km/h | 00:18:54 |
| 11 km/h | 00:12:01 |
| 15 km/h | 00:08:49 |
| 19 km/h | 00:06:57 |
