Mountain Higher - Europe's Cycling Climbs

#4
Bealach na Ba (SW #69)
UNITED KINGDOM
#5
Sa Calobra
SPAIN
#9
Col de Marie Blanque
FRANCE
#10
Col de Marie-Blanque (Bielle)
FRANCE
#17
Grand Ballon (Moosch)
FRANCE
#21
Port de Larrau
FRANCE
#22
Port de Larrau (Navarra)
SPAIN
#23
Hourquette d'Ancizan
FRANCE
#28
Col du Noyer (St-Disdier)
FRANCE
#29
Col du Noyer (Le Martouret)
FRANCE

Climb List: Mountain Higher
(sort by distance, difficulty, elevation and more)

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France: Alpe d'Huez and Galibier
France
19 ROUTES
33 POIs
ROUTE STATS (TOTAL)
189.9
mi
DISTANCE
65,352
ft
ELEV. GAIN
France: Argelès-Gazost
France
18 ROUTES
22 POIs
ROUTE STATS (TOTAL)
167.4
mi
DISTANCE
55,806
ft
ELEV. GAIN
France: Briançon
France
10 ROUTES
27 POIs
ROUTE STATS (TOTAL)
98.9
mi
DISTANCE
31,966
ft
ELEV. GAIN
France: Mont Ventoux
3 ROUTES
25 POIs
ROUTE STATS (TOTAL)
40
mi
DISTANCE
13,749
ft
ELEV. GAIN
France: Saint-Lary-Soulan
France
20 ROUTES
28 POIs
ROUTE STATS (TOTAL)
164
mi
DISTANCE
58,079
ft
ELEV. GAIN
Italy: Stelvio, Gavia & Mortirolo
Switzerland, Italy
11 ROUTES
14 POIs
ROUTE STATS (TOTAL)
109.5
mi
DISTANCE
46,778
ft
ELEV. GAIN
Italy: The Dolomites
Italy
24 ROUTES
8 POIs
ROUTE STATS (TOTAL)
126.8
mi
DISTANCE
30,946
ft
ELEV. GAIN
Mallorca
Spain
23 ROUTES
23 POIs
ROUTE STATS (TOTAL)
82.8
mi
DISTANCE
26,462
ft
ELEV. GAIN
Switzerland: Valais
Switzerland
23 ROUTES
44 POIs
ROUTE STATS (TOTAL)
246.8
mi
DISTANCE
95,399
ft
ELEV. GAIN
United Kingdom: Scotland
United Kingdom
24 ROUTES
43 POIs
ROUTE STATS (TOTAL)
357.5
mi
DISTANCE
42,638
ft
ELEV. GAIN

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FULL SUMMARY

Mountain High

Author: Daniel Friebe

Daniel Friebe is a leading British sports journalist and features editor of Procycling Magazine.  He has also written for respected British publications such as The Guardian, Cycling News, and the Daily Telegraph. He is also author of Eddy Merckx: The Cannibal.  

Eddy Merckx:  The Cannibal

Author: Daniel Friebe

We have documented all of the climbs in Daniel Friebe’s Mountain High (and its sequel, Mountain Higher) .  You can see all the climbs on the “map” or “list” functions above, or access each individual climb by clicking on the climb itself on the map or on the list of the climbs.  The page defaults to the map, which has pins for each climb in Friebe’s book, but you can also see the full list of climbs by clicking “list” at the top left of the map.  The list defaults to alphabetical order, but you can also arrange the climbs by difficulty, distance, highest finish, steepest grade, etc., by using the “Sort” feature to the left of the map/list.

In 2013, my cycling friend from Laguna Beach, California, Bill Capobianco, told me about this incredible book his daughter had given him about bike climbs in Europe called Mountain High.  We had just returned from a cycling trip to the Pyrenees and I was very excited about cycling the top climbs in Europe in the future.  So I purchased the book and fell in love with Daniel Friebe’s informative and entertaining writing style, not to mention the world class photographs in the book taken by Pete Goding. I quickly purchased Mountain Higher, Friebe’s sequel to Mountain High.

Mountain Higher

Author: Daniel Friebe

When I began to travel internationally for this website 2015, I started to add to my cycling library.  Mountain High and Mountain Higher are both prominent members of that library.

PJAMM Cycling library circa May 2019.

We have researched and documented for this page the 30 hardest and most difficult bike climbs ever included in the Tour de France. 

The all-time hardest bike climbs of the Tour de France can be viewed on this page via the map (zoom in to view climbs in particular areas), by Climb Cards (photo and stats) or by a detailed list of the climbs that can be arranged in metric or imperial units by difficulty, distance (longest climbs in the area), altitude gained, highest elevation (highest summit), average grade (sort the grades by varying distances), lowest start point, etc. Click on "Climb Page" to jump to the detail page for that particular bike climb. We feel this page provides a good summary of the top, hardest and best bicycling climbs of the Tour de France.

The 10 hardest bike climbs ever to appear in the Tour de France are %TOP10 

Also visit our 2023 Tour de France Home Page for all the stages, climbs, details of the 2023 Tour de France as well as all the historical data for the Grand Tour.