Hope Mountain via Porch Lane

Totally agree with everything said in olivercroke's excellent review. I recorded the ride on a Polar watch and also got gradients of 20-24％ in several places. All the climbs on Hope Mountain are steep and punchy in places but add in the awful raod surface and this one is by far the toughest.

Extremely tough climb. Straight into >15％ for several minutes to completely drain any anaerobic capacity you might have. My Garmin said 24％ at points. Road surface is horrific, it's basically gravel. You can't get out of the saddle properly without your back wheel slipping so need to lean back a little but not too much or your front wheel lifts because it's so steep. So many potholes you have to pick your line too. Balancing all of that while at VO2 max makes this one of the hardest climbs in North Wales for me, so a big sense of accomplishment at the top, but the road is so bad it's not that enjoyable. Depends how much you like a challenge. Toughest ascent this side of Hope Mountain I think (which disagrees with climbfinder). Descending down it is a death sentence and just as difficult. If you can get up and down this without your back wheel slipping you're a handling God. I'm 100 kg avec le velo, so climbing weenies might disagree.