Compared to some ancient towns in Europe, we don’t do really steep paved roads in Calgary.  That said, most of us know one or two hills that test our resilience.  With the Bow River cutting through the city, it’s not surprising that the steepest paths track up from river level to the bluffs above.  As the river wended its way across the landscape, it eroded steeper cliffs  on outer bends  and that’s where the particularly tough gradients arise. Armed with a few tips on where to look, I went out to explore our steepest climbs.

In the east, at Bowness Park, you only have to think of the new Zig- Zags under the Stoney Trail climbing to Valley Ridge in the south. On the north side of the river, sections of the new path up to Tuscany station are tough but in reality they rarely hit even 10 degrees or 17%.   In Bowmont Park, there’s a gnarly section climbing up to Silver Crest Drive but again its not more than 20% At the east end of the Park, Home Road climbs steeply to 32 Avenue  but doesn’t smash the magic 20% mark. Nor too does the short stub of 52 Street in the same location

Continuing downstream,  there’s the tedious climb out of Edworthy Park south to Spruce Drive but while its long, its gradient is modest.  A snappier climb occurs downstream where a cycle path branches off the Bow River Pathway at the east end of the Shaganappi Golf Course and climbs 30 metres to Sovereign Crescent. However, I had been told to look further east in Crescent Heights where there was a slope that was well over 20%. 

To reach Crescent Heights, there are a couple of warm-up cimbs on route. Centre Street rises gently from the city centre but on the north bank of the river it drops you at the foot of Samis Road that curves eastwards and ramps up to 15%.  If you had time to glance right, you’d appreciate the curved geometry of the Bow Building directly south of you across the river. I did stop at the top of the hill to take in the view, noticing that the river level was starting to drop and its colour was returning to its more had usual hue of dark green blue.

After a respite on 2 Avenue NE , I turned right on 2 St NE, stopping at the top of what is purported to be the steepest paved lane in Calgary.  The unnamed alley between 2 Ave NE and 1 Ave NE certainly dropped away rapidly after the first 100m. I stopped and squinted down the last 100m to 3 St NE.  The path was about 3 metres wide but the surface was not smooth asphalt.  I started off riding down but considered it too dodgy to continue so carefully walked down the rest in my cleats. 

Having got to the foot of the hill, I had no intention of trying to ride back up.  My clinometer app indicated the peak gradient was 16⁰  (28.7%) but this wasn’t the only reason I opted out of this climb.  At the base of the climb, the lane was closed by barriers for construction work on a drain that ran under 3 St NE.  Consequently, you would have to begin from a standing start at 16⁰ and try to clip in and continue upwards.  If that wasn’t bad enough. the lane was too narrow to allow you to zig-zag to alleviate the gradient.

Disappointed but somewhat relieved, I moved on to my next target which was 2 Ave NE that ran parallel  off 3 St NE.  At some point in the past,  2 Ave NE had been a proper paved road, but car access was now barred by permanent barriers at the top and bottom of the steepest section of 80m.  There was, however, plenty of room to ride a bike around the barriers so I had my challenge.

Starting in 3 St NE, I turned around the barrier onto the ramp and kept climbing up managing 8 to 9kph most of the way. When I looked at my power figures afterwards, I saw I needed 350-400 Watts to maintain my speed on a slope that averaged 13⁰ and peaked at 14⁰ (25%). I’m not sure I could have maintained that level of power for much longer than the minute it took me to reach flatter ground!

With my legs sufficiently warmed from the effort,  I took 8 Avenue to the Nose Creek Trail and then blasted down the east Bow Trail knocking up several personal best times on the way.

When you consider what we do have for climbing around Calgary, the hills aren’t too long and aren’t too steep and are not going to condition you to a tour in the Swiss Alps. For that training, you would have to head west for Kananaskis or the Rockies.  Even there, the road climbs may be long but they are never particularly steep as they tend to reflect the capabilities of cars from a hundred years ago.

If you know of any climbs I’ve missed add these to the comments.