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The 10 Hardest Bike Climbs in Utah

Powder Mountain

USA, UT

Guardsman Pass

USA, UT

Big Cottonwood Canyon

USA, UT

Little Cottonwood Canyon

USA, UT

Hwy 143

USA, UT

Nebo Loop Rd North

USA, UT

Empire Pass, Midway

USA, UT

Hwy 31 West

USA, UT

Hwy 153

USA, UT

#10

La Sal Loop (Castle Valley)

USA, UT

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We have documented the Top 10 Utah Bike Climbs many times. Utah has some of the most scenic and hardest bike climbs in the US. The 10 hardest road bike climbs in Utah are 1. Powder Mountain, 2. Guardsman Pass, 3. Big Cottonwood Canyon, 4. Little Cottonwood Canyon, 5. Hwy 143, 6. Nebo Loop Rd North, 7. Empire Pass, Midway, 8. Hwy 31 West, 9. Hwy 153, and 10. La Sal Loop (Castle Valley).

Utah's Top 10 most difficult cycling climbs 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. This page provides an excellent and comprehensive summary of the hardest climbs in Utah.

Our preloaded PJAMM Adventure App trip pages for Utah are accessed by clicking the purple PJAMM Trips button above. The Travel App includes many helpful travel tools, including: an itinerary, interactive map with points of interest and all loaded routes as well as navigation to each; a tracking feature that shows participant locations; records statistic for routes completed; post photos and text in real time to blog and map; and a share feature so friends, fans and family can follow you and your adventure on our interactive map.

Climb List: Utah's most difficult climbs
(sort by distance, difficulty, elevation and more)

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Statistics: View Tutorial

Total Climbs: 10

Top 100 USA: 10

Avg. PDI (Top 5): 30.3

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Showing All 10 Climbs

Measurement System

USA Rank

PDI

1 - 25

26 - 50

51 - 75

76 - 100

over 100

Gravel

Style

Climb

Location

Climb Info

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The American Southwest

United States (AZ,NM,UT)

18 ROUTES

27 POIs

ROUTE STATS (TOTAL)

215.4

DISTANCE

34,866

ELEV. GAIN

Utah: Moab, Arches & Canyonlands

United States (UT)

19 ROUTES

21 POIs

ROUTE STATS (TOTAL)

325.3

DISTANCE

32,871

ELEV. GAIN

Utah: Northern Utah

United States (UT)

11 ROUTES

5 POIs

ROUTE STATS (TOTAL)

102

DISTANCE

32,774

ELEV. GAIN

Utah: Zion National Park

United States (UT)

20 ROUTES

32 POIs

ROUTE STATS (TOTAL)

256.5

DISTANCE

39,649

ELEV. GAIN

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Utah’s Top 5 Bike Climbs - clockwise from top left

#5 Hwy 143 (Brian Head); #4 Big Cottonwood Canyon;

#3 Little Cottonwood Canyon; #2 Guardsman Pass; #1 Powder Mountain (center)

Utah has some very challenging bike climbs (six in the US Top 50 and nine in the Top 100), Below are the top 5 most difficult road bike climbs in Utah:

#5 HARDEST UTAH BIKE CLIMB

HWY 143 (BRIAN HEAD), PAROWAN

#38 US

Ride 14 miles gaining 4,375’ at 5.9% average grade.

Topping out at 10,585’ this is the second highest road bike climb in Utah, just behind Bald Mountain Pass in northern Utah. We climb to and then 3 miles past Brian Head Ski Resort on this long and difficult southwestrn Utah bike climb.

#4 HARDEST UTAH BIKE CLIMB

LITTLE COTTONWOOD CANYON, SANDY

#29 US

Ride 10.5 miles gaining 4,010’ to elevation 9,393’ at 7.2% average grade.

This bike climb takes us past two of the great ski resorts in the United States - Snowbird (one of my all time favorites) and Alta (no snowboarding 🙁). We end this climb on hard packed dirt and gravel just below Alta’s Sunnyside lift.

#3 HARDEST UTAH BIKE CLIMB

BIG COTTONWOOD CANYON, COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS

#37 US

Ride 17 miles gaining 5,052’ at 5.5% average grade.

This is a popular road bike climb that begins south of Salt Lake City. We ride past Solitude Ski Resort at mile 12 and then turn left onto Guardsman Pass Road at Brighton Ski Resort. This is also the western approach to Guardsman Pass.

#2 HARDEST UTAH BIKE CLIMB

GUARDSMANS PASS, MIDWAY

#30 USA

Ride only 8.8 miles but gain 3,927’ to 9,393’ at 8.5% average grade.

Guardsman Pass from Midway is amongst the best cycling climbs in Utah. This is also the second most difficult climb by bike in Utah and shares its first seven miles with Empire Pass. Guardsman Pass begins just north of Midway, Utah and can be reached by three routes: from Midway, Park City, or via Big Cottonwood Canyon. The Midway ascent to Guardsman Pass is very narrow and rough, but with very little traffic. The climb is steep throughout with it's most challenging section the 1.4 miles from 0.95 - 2.3 miles at 11.8% average grade. The last 1.7 miles from the intersection of Guardsman and Empire Passes of roadway is no more than a wide single lane in very poor condition.

THE HARDEST UTAH BIKE CLIMB

POWDER MOUNTAIN, EDEN

#29 USA

Bring your climbing legs for the very challenging Powder Mountain bike climb near Salt Lake City, Utah. The ride begins with a modest 5.2% average grade for the first two miles, and ends with 5.6 miles of 11.1% average grade, with Mile 3-4 at 13.8%.