World’s Steepest Climb Vs World’s Best Climber: Can He Defeat It?
It’s the video you’ve been waiting for… we’re back at the brutal Salita Scanuppia in Italy, the legendary climb that could be the steepest road in the world! After Ollie tried & failed to ride up its mythical 40% slopes, we’re back with Strava’s #1 ranked climber, Andrew Feather, a.k.a. “The Twig”. Will he be able to do what Ollie couldn’t and conquer the world’s hardest cycling climb?!
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Watch Ollie's not-so-successful attempt! 👉 • Is This The World's HA...
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What other climbs would you like to see Feather take on?
Pozza San Glisente
A climbing challenge where Feather does 10 huge climbs in a day and see how he can deal with it?
Olympus Mons.
La stentaria, near the Zoncolan (but waay harder)
sugondese
Hardest climb ever and he leaves the default 'Lunch Ride' title on Strava. True class.
Gold
Chad
lmaooo
Savage
And he did a morning ride before lunch.
What you failed to mention was that he went on a ride before this, did 38km with 1340m elevation and hit 5 KOMs. Then a couple of hours later he does this impossible climb. What an absolute machine
and the temperature was very high it seems
I need to try harder.
He had to warm up. That is a dream bike! I'm still waiting to set up my Raleigh RXM with the Ekar groupo. I'm mightily sure I won't be affording those wheels though.
You don’t expect him to do this climb without a warm up do you?
Perfect warmup for a pro
I worked with Andrew (Feaths) for a few years. He is the most humble and nicest guy you could meet but built like a machine. Seeing him in vids and being National Hill Climb champ is amazing and deserved. (If you read this it's Dean)
Idk man, I know quite a few humble and nice guys. Not sure if you’re guy is the most humble or nicest
@@aleyorch44 I know a guy who is even more humbler
@@derLenno fukkk. Well you got me there
It looks like torture even just WALKING this up haha! That guy is INCREDIBLE! Respect!
It's pretty mind blowing stuff 🤯 We struggled to stand on this incline!
Just watching this is torture!
It's all about tiny small steps!👍 Luckily with walking you can chooe from an infinite amount and variety of 'gears' and not the preselected 27 or so😅
I road up a hill once which is probably around a 60 degree incline and barely made it up and its only about 100m long. I can't imagine ever trying this that goes for 7km. But I only have a mountain bike and just go on rides every now and then for a bit of exercise.
I can’t even begin to imagine how hard 44% feels like. Hats off to you, Feather 👏🏽💪🏽
On MTB it's easy to find steeper, but there's usually a lack of grip. I wanna try it!
30% is already very hard on a mountain bike. I do a race here in the vineyards north of Vienna that has some short sections at around 30.
@@patricklaureys9238 30% is hard even on foot, let alone on a bike. But it's all about gear ratios, and being able to learn forward, XC bikes are great at this
@@patricklaureys9238 Could you tell me the name of the race? I live close by!
I have went up a few hills that exceeded 20% but they were long most were a few hundred feet at most
Insane climb! Feather made it look easy and then was so humble when he absolutely crushed it. He always seems so chill and down to try anything!
Yep, like how he was humble and such a good sport, yet yeah, he slam dunked that. Those gradients are insane.
Yup no whining or complaining, he just goes and does. Of course he used the right gear too! No fumbling putting his cleats which is just an amateurs move. :)
9:53 - he was not taking the "don't blow up" lines
You’ll always seem chill if your resting heart rate is 12 bpm 😂
Feather is simply amazing; a creature made of different stuff, and most incredible is his humility. Off the charts talent and impossible humility in the same person. Truly epic. How many others could make that climb? A handful if that on earth. Wow!! Thanks for this video!!!!!!! : )
Would love to see Feather take on the full Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Not as steep but extremely long and up to massive altitude.
And has a killer 4.5 mile unpaved section on loose ash/pumice ending at the 12000' benchmark -- challenging even on fat mtb tires.
Or Haleakela
feather: oh no a hairpin! this is the last hairpin i wanna see!! also feather: *attacks the hairpin's steeper inside line*
Yes, he certainly wasn't taking the easy line at times.
KOM 'they gave me a script' Feather
absolutely insane climb ! 🚴 🤯
Lloydy's getting nervous now about us getting to 100K likes! 😅
@@gcn Would his attempt interfere with beer drinking???
youtube comment momen 🗿
KZhead ayy
AYOOOO
I felt every pedal stroke! That was insane climbing and sheer power! Wow!!!
Such a class! He made it so easy even the climb is brutal. Great equipment and talent!💪
That he is even able to talk during and after the climb is astonishing. My tongue would be tangled up between the spokes and my longues would be left behind on the pavement. Ridiculous. Well done sir! 👌🏻
simple -- drugs
@@toobes100 no...cmon dude
All top notch endurance athletes can do it. Those long distance runners can still talk and seemingly breathe normally when they are close to collapsing. I guess it's cus their co2 tolerance and HRV are so ridiculous, it is never their lungs/ heart but the muscles that give out , same as someone useless like myself doing push ups or squats.
When you can see that a climb is crazy steep on screen, you know it has to be mind bendingly steep in real life!
For real! 🥵
@@gcn fr
Passed through Trento a few weeks ago during TCR... I am glad I never put that into my route! Brutal... great job!
Chapeau! Incredible ride, astonishing fitness!
"It gets easier from here..." read that as "it gets less stupid steep from here". There, fixed it for you. Hats off to Andrew, what a monster.
Goes from impossible climb to hard climb😂
Still ridiculously steep, just not unbelievably steep…
That is one savage climb! Hats off to Andrew! Now, let's see the GCN presenters please. 😊
Race time! With the GTN and GMBN crew, perhaps? And maybe the local hiking club.
The can not make it :D
I would love to see him bomb down that 😆🤔
I don't think anyone but Andrew and a few other top level pro hillclimbers are doing that with gravel gears. Even Andrew said it was not possible on road gears. I think for retired pros like the GCN crew even they would need MTB gears to have even a chance at that. Us mere mortals would need an e-bike
I'd like to see a GCN race. Allow gearing as ridiculous as 30x51 if need be.
That was an impressive feat. Take a look at some of the roads on Madeira, so many 1st & 2nd gear climbs in a car, never mind a bike. An example is Rua da Barreira in Funchal at 45%, though there are plenty of alternatives all over the island.
Great video guys. I went to Cooper’s hill ( The Cheese run ring any bells?!? ) just to stand in awe of its 45% degree steepness and could not even walk it let alone ride ( an electric ) bike up it !!! Great science in this explanation. If only I could turn back the clocks to when this was a piece of cake! And we had heavier bikes in the early 80s and no helmets or gloves!
This is one of the most incredible feats of cycling achievements ever. What an athlete! Congratulations Andrew Feather.
It's been road by hundreds of cyclists before just saying amateurs too.
@@aiden1064 no lol
@@aiden1064 Quite true even in this clip another cyclist can be seen doing the same feat!?😮
@@keithroberts5611 Pretty sure that was the cameraman on his electric bike.
*turbo* electric bike!
I honestly didn't think he'd make it. Just fabulous! Hats off to you, Andrew!
Another great video 👍 I’m looking forward to Saluda I’ve enjoyed working with this group
WOW! What a personal achievement Andrew. Well done. Gordon, Halifax UK
Wow! Absolutely incredible achievement! It must rank as one of the great cycling achievements. Ok, it's not a 3-week grand tour BUT IT'S STRAIGHT UP A MOUNTAIN! For almost 5 miles! Thanks Andrew for taking it on, thanks GCN for setting it up. This one will be hard to top!
I really really wanna see Lloydy take this on. C'mon guys give this video a thumbs-up 👍 Been a while since we've seen the legend in a video!
Spread the word 😅🙏
This guy does a world first, but credits the achievement to more than himself. Like a boss
Wow… such a strong will, crazy leg strength and such quick recovery after getting off the steepest part. I thought for sure he would quit. 💪 👍🏽😤
I do live in Trento, just 5 miles from the Scanuppia climb. So happy you came back for another try. I hope you also got the chance to test your climbing skills on other of the beautiful mountains we got here nearby. Anyway well done to Andrew for the effort and Ollie for the usual ironic approach
There is a little more to come from our little trip to Italy in the coming weeks, so keep a look out 🙂
Is it still banned for cyclists? A friend of mine rode it about 20 years ago before the ban came in.
@@davidzof as far as I know is still closed. But as you can see it can't be climbed for "us" roadies living on planet Earth...
@@davidzof Yes, without special permission it is banned for cyclist. I'm from Trento.
@@scartezz1 Too steep for me anyway, and I've ridden some steep climbs in Italy.
The man is not human! He’s so calm and collected after climbing up that wall!! 👏💪 Maybe Ollie should try it on the same bike and see how far he can get?
@@ax1066a-ghd2 I'm sure he did. Maybe a later video. If not I'm sure he did
his fitness is in the elite category
unfortunately feathers bike is too small for me 👀😂
Ollie didn’t want to put Andrew to shame…
We love your videos!! Thank you for taking us along on your journey’s. Friendly reminder, it’s really hard on Big T’s spine (and painful ) when you sit him up on his booty even if you are holding him under his front legs. 😊
Amazing stuff, and very well produced video, I was on tender hooks as to whether he would do it or not.
Looking up the times and power numbers on strava from other people, I can definetely say Ollie could have managed it with easier gears. Ideally you could fit a 34 inner chainring to Alex's super gravel GRX 1x setup So, how many likes would you need for us to see the re-match?
Yeah I didn't think 38-44 was that easy, my MTB has 32-46 easiest gearing and it might take me all day, but I can climb up some pretty gnarly stuff, and I'm rubbish. Give a super fit rider some even easier gearing and they should manage this climb.
do you want to share the power numbers?
@@sophocles8761 you can look up yourself, around 250 for around an hour. No idea about weight and gear of riders
I'm a local and basically everyone I know who has ridden up Scanuppia has used a MTB. It's not impossible with some good fitness, I'm planning to do that with my hardtail using 30x44 gearing and my FTP is about 4w/kg
It’s bigger than a 44 as it says 44 on the second last cog if you pair the video
No one's taking that KOM anytime soon, hat's off to Andrew!
Oooopppss forgot to press start on strata!! 😬😬haha he could do it again anytime. Dudes a beast.
Maybe, MAYBE Jonas Vingegaard?
@@gcn If you guys can manage to get him up there! That would be lit!
That was amazing!! Great job and video!!🚴🥵💯
Sheer grit, sportsmanship and Feather... you rock.
When even the Andrew Feather straying left and right on the climb, I know for sure that the climb is only suitable for four legged climber aka mountain goat than any human powered machine. Superb climb and great video.
i’ve never seen him zig zag before! it’s crazy
Hmmm, Ollie - if it was just the gearing holding you back why didn't you just have a go after Feather on his bike?.... 😄🚵♂️
@@charlesjungclaus the bike was too small. such a shame. i was gutted. 😂
Fair enough - but next time you might as well try it standing up as long as possible- most of Feather's ride seemed to be out of the saddle ;) Thanks for the reply. Love watching your episodes here in Vancouver BC.
Ollie, at the start that was the most wicked laugh I've ever heard. 🤣 "Well done" is an understatement for Feather, absolutely incredible effort. The correct bike and set up maybe but wow amazing. 👍🏻
the fact that he can keep and keep going is so impressiv .. endurance madnest
Top-of-the-line build, well done!
Well done to Andrew for his effort but especially for his humbleness and attitude. Chapeau
crazy how he's taking the tighter/steeper line. what an absolute mad man. all my respect to Mr. Feather.
All I can think of is how amazing it would be the other way around! Insane feat though, geez!
Feather is an absolute hill climb beast! I don't even want to imagine the power he outputs on a flat. Great inspiration to get better and better though.
The guy’s a freakin’ legend!!! What pure talent, skill, graft, and mental endurance this guy has. Totally in awe👏
Feather's capacity for recovery is astonishing. Amazing effort!
Just today 29th December I walked up this climb (with my son on the shoulder!) it was sooo terribly hard, my heartbeat went up so high it sounded like a mouse's 🤣. I barely can imagine what that could be by bike, I was thinking about this video and also to the one of the Magico Tempe descending on one wheel. Chapeau!
Absolutely incredible ride.well done mate👍👍👍👍👍👍👊👊👊👊
Oli tried this with a 40/42? That’s insane! And that’s an incredible effort from Feather. Seriously impressive riding.
Yes, Ollie's gearing was nonsense. I would have try that climb with a 34t chainring and a cassette up to 50 or 52t.
@@qzrnuiqntp " ...50 OR 52t." LOL Everybody knows 50t is for woosies. 53t, although 52t is acceptable.
@@WattsOnTheUp eh?
@@a1white If you can't read sarcasm, or don't have a sense of humor, go away.
@@WattsOnTheUp 😅
That looked utterly brutal. The steepest I have been up is a 33% section of about 300 meters on a 2km climb… any further and I would have been off… no idea how he got up tht. Superman.
Sounds Hardknott-esque 😌
THIS DESERVE A STANDING OVATION!! POWERFUL MAN!
That was ridiculously fantastic! I gag at 18% over 500 metres! It hurt me to watch him. Well done, Andrew! Unbelievable!
Good effort from camera man even on an ebike absolute beast of a climb
The cameraman is also a machine 💪
Top work! We all knew he was going to do it, but he looked absolutely effortless! (Thanks to the power of editing!) Bravo flying feather!
We don’t think it was guaranteed! He is a beast though 😎
Great presentation of the bike with great music!
Andrew Feather is an absolute beast. Great effort guys.
That's what I think climbs look like and feel like when I ride them, except they are only 10 or 12%. I can't even imagine riding this, amazing!
This is insane, what a beast! Have you noticed 10.3km/h average??? No words, congrats 🤘🏻
That's about 400 watts average.
Would love to see you try Vallejo & Broderick in San Francisco. It's the steepest sidewalk in SF! There's also Filbert Street between Leavenworth and Hyde which is a straight gradient of 31.5%
Impressive KOM! Also impressed Mr Feather could get the camera on and off his left chainstay dropout while riding!
Congrats to Andrew, breathtaking climb, jaw-dropping :). I admired that he didn`t sweat much for such a savage climb and lack of swearing too :).
Wow! There was a path/road I walked down from Wengen to the Lauterbrunnen Valley floor which may well be steeper than this.... but not half as long
To quote Jeremy Clarkson: "What a machine!" I'd guess the only way to find even harder climbs would probably be to go to the Andes, Himalayas or Karakorum, those however would come with totally different challenges.
Amazing effort on the climb, Mr Feather; I think the descent would be terrifying.
Respect!!! I love the bit where the cameraman is zig zagging on an ebike in turbo mode!
Just watching him pedal up the incline made my legs ache. And I was watching it while lying on my bed. Kudos to Feather!!
That was absolutely amazing. Bravo 👏
That was just out of control, I can't believe he didn't put a foot down at all!! Andrew Feather is the GOAT
What a total beast of a human being! Dude is an inspiration! 👍🏼🤟🏼🔥💪🏼
Insane. Also makes you curious what all of the world's best climbers would be capable of doing here (as in, not those on Strava, but the pro riders). Utterly insane to be able to even make it up there.
I would think that hillclimb specialists are better at this than most pro riders.
I was sweating just watching Andrew Feather do that. It’s ridiculous, he’s ridiculous, in a good way. Total Legend!! 🙌👏
This the best suspenseful video GCN has done, so much fun watching. Congrats to Feather, I don’t blame Dan for being reluctant.
Admit it, did you think he stacked it? (we fell for it too) 😅
I must say, it's been many years since I've seen hips stay out, bike upright, wow! A form found only in the best/hardest races, from the greatest racers, such as Giro De Italia! Bravo mate, bravo! Pay attention kids! Form!
Great video. I’ve climbed some very steep grades on my bike (much shorter distances). I think the greatest limiting factor and risk is not strength, but almost flipping backwards from pushing on the petals and exerting torque on the back wheel.
Speechless! Best video you've ever made. I was willing him up just to believe that it was possible. Fair play!
High praise - thanks! What would you like to see more of from us?
@@gcn well I personally love these hard challenges as they provide inspiration and put my sad abilities into perspective making me want to try harder! Perhaps you could send Andrew to Alpe D'huez to take on Pantani's incredibile record 😉
Oh my word, I almost fell off my chair seeing him get up this climb! Wow, what a machine !!!! Chapeau !
That gent is an absolute MACHINE!!! That was done effort, the video does it no justice. Bravo 👏🏻
Just looked at the Strava for the climb, I cannot find him? One time in the top ten is 2019. Others foreign names 🤷🏻♂️👍🏻 ah I see him on segments of the whole climb getting KOM, but not KOM for the full climb. Unbelievable riding
Chapeau x 1,000000 amazing effort 👏👏👏
I've been up steeper climbs than that, when my hobby was rock climbing.
I don’t recall ever seeing Ollie take defeat that badly. You would think he’d be use to it by now. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 . Props to Andrew. The strength and stamina to climb that is impressive. 👍🏼
Such a bad loser
Ollie's effort was damn good for an amateur. Remember Ollie has never been a pro, his background is in journalism, not pro bike racing.
Barely even out of breath! Outstanding 👏🏼👏🏼
Giving me flashbacks to cycling over Route Napoleon from St Jean Pied du Port to Roncesvalles. I think that was only an Ave gradient of like 8 or 9% but sections of 20%+. I cried multiple times 😂
Feather content is the currently the one I enjoy the most. He is just a great guy and such a ridiculous climber.
Thanks! What should we challenge him to do next?
@@gcn How about an everesting record? Some weeks of training featured in the GCN show with a stand alone video of the actual attempt 😁
Man is full on recovering on 10-15% gravel gradients. You're an animal, Feather!
Loved your video! For tips of a different road, try the Stales de Senes from Pederü up to Coll della Macchina, 46.637526,12.043929. no idea how steep but seriously crazy as well with amazing scenery. Saw bad-ass biking Italians go up there.
Only been cycling/ watching GCN since April. I don’t think I have ever seen a video of A-Feather sitting and spinning in the saddle. Still didn’t seem out of breath though. He should be nicknamed the “Terminator”. Y’all should share the strava link for the individual rides he does on the show. I scrolled for a good 10 min trying to find this one on his events and couldn’t find it.
That's it I'm off the booze for a week to prepare for my local 8% killer climb 😀. Brilliant video! 👏🏼
This might be my new favourite GCN video. An insane challenge, awesome bike and honest enthusiasm in the presentation by Ollie. Keep up the good work!
Thanks - what would you like to see us do next? 🤔
Feathered to the TOP! What an athlete! Great video GCN...
He’s a beast hats off to you champ you killed it!!
That's just a different level of human! Hugely impressed Mr.Feather.
Olly is the type of guy to Shazam the Wii sports intro
Crank it UP! He’s always playing it at the office…
Amazing young man . Congratulations 🎉
He not only did it, he was also able to put together a meaningful sentence during that and multiple of them after that. Pure insanity.
You should do a challenge to see what's the steepest % you can ride up - with artificial ramps perhaps
I think 45% is right about there on gravel tires, Andrew actually broke the back tire loose for a split second. Maybe a MTB tire could grip on a little steeper
Nice idea, thanks!
The beast takes on the beast and conquers it..... Well done Mr Feather. HUGE respect.
best comment...😎👍
He holds all the KOM's round my way. I love to hear him groan and struggle here.... Just like i do on all the climbs he has beasted easily.
Where is the ebike comparison using a 75 year old lady?
In awe - the man’s a legend. It’s so steep I spilled my breakfast wine just watching.