The highest paved roads in North America
10 on the map · 0 more worldwide ·
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Above about three thousand metres the air stops helping. You are turning the same gear at the same speed as an hour ago and it costs more, and the last part of one of these climbs becomes as much about breathing as legs.
North America stacks its highest pavement in Colorado. Mount Blue Sky, where the asphalt runs out above 4,300 metres, and Pikes Peak a few metres lower across the valley, are both summit roads built for tourists to drive up, which is exactly what makes them good to ride: graded, steady, and going nowhere except the top.
The outlier is Haleakalā. It finishes lower than any of them and it is the hardest of the lot, because it starts on a beach.
The roads
Mount Blue Sky (from Echo Lake)The highest paved road in North America, topping out at 14,130 feet, and the American reference test for racing at altitude: the hill climb first run in 1962…
Pikes Peak HighwaySpencer Penrose's 1915 tourist road, made famous by its auto hill climb and fully paved only in 2011, the year bike racing arrived: the Broadmoor Cycle to th…
Trail Ridge Road (east side)The highest continuous paved road in the United States at 12,183 feet, built by the Park Service in the 1930s and listed as an All-American Road.
Cottonwood Pass (from Buena Vista)The highest fully paved mountain pass in the United States since the west side was surfaced in 2019: 12,126 feet on the Continental Divide, edging out neighb…
Independence Pass (from Aspen)The queen-stage pass of American racing: the Coors Classic sent Bernard Hinault's last stage race over it in 1986, and the USA Pro Challenge revived the cros…
Beartooth Pass (from Red Lodge)The highest highway point in Montana and Wyoming at 3,337 m, on the Depression-built road Charles Kuralt called the most beautiful drive in America.
Haleakalā (sea to summit)Widely billed as the longest paved climb on earth: 58 km from the beach at Paia to 10,023 feet, the shortest ride anywhere from sea level to 10,000.
On the map
Passo FalzaregoPasso Falzarego, at 2,105 metres, connects Cortina d'Ampezzo with the Cordevole valley along the Great Dolomites Road.
Passo San PellegrinoThe two summits flanking the road once faced each other across a front line: Austrians on Cima Uomo to the north, Italian trenches on Col Margherita to the s…
Pico del VeletaThe pavement stops about ten metres below the summit, which makes this the highest paved road in Europe.