Last four hills - and the official outcome

This is it, this is when we find out just what is the steepest hill in Sheffield?

Well, I can tell you - the last four was a really good group. These could definitely shake up that final table. But could they knock Hagg Hill off of its perch? Let's find out...

Sheffield Hill #22

Bates Street was just the kind of climb I was starting to expect from Sheffield. Not too long at 225m, but really steep. With an elevation gain of 27m, this had a gradient of exactly 12%. Tough enough, though just outside the top 10 in the table.

Sheffield Hill #23

This was a much longer climb, the road is called Whitehouse Lane which climbs up from Infirmary Road. It snakes up the hill for 522, climbing 53 metres along the way. That gives it an average gradient of 10.15%, though like most of the longer climbs, this varied a bit along the way with some easier sections and some harder ones.

Sheffield Hill #24

Then it was time for the big ones. Blake Street, which many online commentators felt was the steepest hill in Sheffield, and certainly in "proper" Sheffield. This is the one that gave me stress issues all those years ago, so I have been determined not to overthink it and trust in my bike. It did not disappoint, as it was seriously steep - but the big question is would it challenge Hagg Hill?!

As it was one of the original "big four", I added all the charts for this one!

The Strava stats above would put it at 14.5% average gradient, which would fall short of Hagg Hill's 17.8%. However, as ever, Strava struggled with accuracy for these short climbs. The real length is 185m, and the real elevation was 31m.

I wish I could spin this out longer, but the sad fact is that this gave it a real average gradient of 16.8%. That is seriously steep, but not enough to knock Hagg Hill off the top spot. In fact, it put it into third spot behind my own beloved Prospect Place.

Sheffield Hill #25

So, that was it. Not that I knew at the time, of course, but the issue was decided. The big shootout between Blake Street and Hagg Hill had gone the way most commentators had thought it would. Hagg Hill was Number 1.

Well, no - it might not be all over yet. Hold tight, there is a twist at the end of this tale...

I came to the last climb in the whole challenge, Wellfield Road. It was unexpectedly steep. It had the white handrails for pedestrians, which I have come to learn is a sign of the real top-end steep climbs.

Could Wellfield Road be a contender? It hadn't really been suggested much by people, but standing at the bottom of this I thought it might well have a serious chance. Here are the stats.

Strava's suggestion of 11% was clearly nonsense. They don't put handrails on roads that have an 11% gradient! So, it was down to Google Maps and PlotaRoute to give more accurate readings. And, let me tell you now, the gradients for Wellfield Road and Hagg Hill are close. Really, really close.

So close, in fact, that I had to go back and get an even more accurate calculation. That more accurate calculation moved Hagg Hill up a little from 17.82% to 17.84%. Wellfield Road's vital statistics were 22.86m of climbing over just 128m. That gave it a gradient of ...

... wait for it ...

17.86%. 

Right at the death, the final climb came through and stole the crown. By just 0.02%!!

We have a champion, and one that I didn't expect at all: Wellfield Road is officially "Sheffield's Steepest Hill".

Here is the final table with gold, silver and bronze medallists:

Poor Blake Street; all that hype and it finished outside the medals. Even it's claim to be the steepest hill in 'proper' Sheffield is shot down. Hagg Hill and Prospect Place could be argued to be outside the boundary of the original city (at whatever point in time this distinction was made!), but Wellfield Road is just around the corner from Blake Street, so must be "proper" Sheffield as well. A clear-cut winner.

This been surprisingly fun to do. It has been really enjoyable taking on a challenge during the Covid-19 lockdown and having something to keep me occupied. I hope you have enjoyed reading about it too.

I will have another post to add, to give my views (rather less scientifically, I am afraid) on which has been the toughest climb. Many of those at the top of the ranking table above were (mercifully) short, so for me were actually easier than some of the climbs with less gradient but longer length. I have had a couple of recommendations of climbs to try sent to me, and I will add these in for that final assessment.

But for now, if you happen to overhear locals arguing over whether Hagg Hill or Blake Street is the steepest hill in Sheffield, you can casually drop Wellfield Road into their conversation.