Length: 17.9km
Altitude: 1590m
Height Gain: 1057m
Average Gradient: 5.9%
Category: Hors Categorie
Approximately halfway between two bookend towns, Khancoban and
Jindabyne, you’ll come to the bottom of a near-18 kilometre climb up to Dead
Horse Gap. Located along the Alpine Way, on the New South Wales-Victorian
border, it’s one of the most strenuous climbs in the Australian Alps.
A near 15-kilometre ascent, with a 4.7% average gradient, it’s as
difficult as any category 1 climb you’ll find in Europe. But there’s little
of the lively atmosphere you’re likely to witness along the roads in places
like the French Alps. Instead, you’re on an exposed (to the sun) and remote
road. Don’t expect to pull into a
service station to escape the heat and replenish your water supplies. The sign along
the roadside will warn you there isn’t one until you reach Thredbo, 75
kilometres and three climbs away.
The next 30-plus kilometres towards Tom Groggin is a combination of
undulating road and long descents, with a category 3 climb in between. But this
is nothing compared to the horse category climb - beginning with a bridge
crossing and sharp turn to the east - still to come.
If the change in direction is noticeable, then the first few kilometres
of the climb will leave an indelible impression in your cycling memory. A
serpent, the road wriggles its way aggressively towards the half-way stage of
the climb; a high point that heralds an unexpected steep descent towards
Leather Barrel Creek.
You mightn’t feel it at the time, but the ascent up to Dead Horse Gap is
a climb of two halves. The first, made up a sporadic double-figure gradients,
is replaced by a more even second half; 10 kilometres at a more manageable 5%
average gradient.
Like the last few kilometres up to Falls Creek (from Mount Beauty), the
dense eucalypt forest that has accompanied you all the way, is gradually
replaced by smaller snow gums and a more open landscape. With the gradient
finally easing off, and the thought of Dead Horse Gap appearing around the next
bend in the road, you’re given the rare luxury of actually enjoying the last
few moments of the climb.
Books by Mark Krieger:
‘High Spain Drifter’ is available on Amazon , Barnes and Noble, Booktopia and other online bookstores.
‘Lycra, Lattes and the Long Way Round’ is available on Amazon, Book Depository, Barnes and Noble, Kobo Books
Both books are also available at local bookshops on the Mornington Peninsula: @ Rosebud Bookbarn and @ La Brocante
“When I see an adult on a bicycle, I
do not despair for the future of the human race.” H. G.
Wells
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