The Climb Print — Alpe d’Huez, Ventoux and the Great Cycling Climbs, Hairpin by Hairpin

The collection · Place

The Climb Print

One of the great cycling climbs, drawn as you rode it: the road from the foot to the top over the contours of the mountain it climbs, the hairpins numbered where the climb numbers them, and beneath it the gradient of every kilometre in five shades. Alpe d'Huez, Mont Ventoux, the Stelvio, the Gavia, the Grossglockner, the Tourmalet, Sa Calobra and Box Hill — with your own time to the top and the day you rode it, if you want them on it.

From £19.95 unframed, £59.95 framed · Needs: one of the great climbs. Your own time, if you like; no data.

The Climb Print: One of the great cycling climbs, hairpin by hairpin: the road over its mountain, the gradient of every kilometre, and your own time to the top. Alpe d'Huez, Mont Ventoux, the Stelvio and five more.
The Climb Print · 12 × 16 in · black frame
What it reads from your data

A cycling climb print, from your own activities

  • The road itself, traced over the real road network from the climb's foot to its top — the D211 from Le Bourg-d'Oisans, the SS38 from Prato, the Zig Zag Road from Mickleham.
  • The mountain under it: about forty contour lines from public elevation data, quiet enough for the road to lead.
  • The numbered bends where the climb numbers them: the Alpe's 21 counting down to the top, the Stelvio's 48 counting down, the Grossglockner's 14 Kehren counting up.
  • A profile of the whole climb with every kilometre shaded by its gradient, from under 3% to over 12%, and its axis in kilometres and metres.
  • The numbers a rider quotes: length, height gained, average gradient and the steepest kilometre, with the foot and the top at their signposted heights.
  • If you rode it: your time to the top and the date, typed in or taken from the ride on Strava.

Every part of the print can be moved, resized, recoloured or removed in the Studio; the route, the map and the words each take a colour of their own. Nothing is printed until you order.

Good to know
Which climbs can I choose?

Eight to begin with: Alpe d'Huez, Mont Ventoux from Bédoin, the Passo dello Stelvio from Prato, the Passo di Gavia from Ponte di Legno, the Grossglockner High Alpine Road from Fusch to the Fuscher Törl, the Col du Tourmalet from Sainte-Marie-de-Campan, Sa Calobra on Mallorca and Box Hill in Surrey. Each has a page of its own under Climbs. More are traced one at a time, because each is checked against its signposts before it goes on sale.

How accurate is the profile?

Each road is traced over a real road network rather than drawn freehand, and its height read from public elevation data every ten metres. The foot and the top are printed at their signposted or surveyed heights, and the profile is fitted to meet them. Under thick forest the elevation data reads some of the trees as well as the road, so a single kilometre can come out a point or so steeper or gentler than the sign beside it says.

Does it need Strava?

No. The climb is drawn from the road and the mountain alone. To put your own time on it, type it in, or connect Strava and choose the ride: the Studio finds the moment you passed the foot and the moment you reached the top, and prints the time between them with the date.

Why are only some hairpins numbered?

Because only some climbs number them. The Alpe's 21 bends each carry a sign with a number and a name, each of the Stelvio's 48 has its numbered stone, and the Grossglockner's Kehren are signed in the other direction, so the print numbers those as the road does. Elsewhere it draws the bends as they lie and numbers none.

Which size?

12 × 16 in suits Box Hill or Sa Calobra. A long climb with many bends — the Stelvio, the Grossglockner, Ventoux — reads best at 18 × 24 in or larger, where the profile has room for every kilometre's figure.

Can it show the climb I rode that is not on the list?

Not as a Climb Print yet. The Mountain Print will draw the mountain it goes up, framed as you like, and lay your own ride from Strava over the contours with its distance, climb and date.

How it works

From the Studio to your wall in three steps.

The Heatmap print: a year of London runs layered into one map of familiar roads
Step 01

Choose your subject

Connect Strava in one tap for a race, a ride or a whole year. Or search for a place, type a postcode for your street on the old Ordnance Survey, or add a photograph — none of those needs an account.

The Contours print: a year of runs drawn as density contours, the ground darkest where the miles repeat
Step 02

Choose your style

Start from a finished design and make it yours: the words, the colours, the size. Twenty-three styles for your own miles, four treatments for a place, six layouts for a photograph, and the old survey as drawn or in your colours.

The Distance rings print: one ring for every activity of the year, the longer arcs the longer days
Step 03

We print and frame it

Pick a frame, check out, and it is printed to order on fine-art paper, framed by hand and posted to you, tracked.

  • Made to orderPrinted for you, never from stock
  • Fine-art paperArchival inks, framed by hand
  • Tracked deliveryUK delivery £7.85, tracked · worldwide, priced at checkout
  • Arrives damaged?We replace it, no quibble