Last Chance Road Climb
- long (10.7 km)
- 6.7 mi
- long (10.7 km)
- of climbing (522 m)
- 1,713 ft
- of climbing (522 m)
- average grade
- 4.9%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 11.5%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 4,265 ft at the bottom to 5,978 ft at the top. Grades are averaged over each half kilometre, from USGS elevation data, so short ramps can be steeper than they show.
Weather at the top of Last Chance Road this week
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Is it safe to bike up Last Chance Road?
We don't rate roads as safe or unsafe: crash counts can't say how risky a ride is, and roads people like to ride draw more riders, so they see more crashes. What the records show: no bike crashes were reported along the climb from 2021–2025.
Common questions about Last Chance Road
- How long and steep is the Last Chance Road climb?
- 6.7 miles (10.7 km) at 4.9% on average, climbing 1,713 ft (522 m) from 4,265 ft to 5,978 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 11.5%. That makes it a Category 2 climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 39.09943, -120.6413, where Last Chance Road leaves Last Chance Rd Ext., and tops out on the road at 39.10344, -120.5395.
- Is Last Chance Road paved?
- Mostly: OpenStreetMap tags 64% of the climb as paved, and the rest as dirt or gravel.
- How is the category worked out?
- From the climb's shape only: length in metres × average grade (%) of 16,000 or more for Cat 3, 32,000 for Cat 2, 64,000 for Cat 1 and 80,000 for HC. It describes how hard the climb is, not traffic or crashes.
- Where does this data come from?
- The climb is found from OpenStreetMap roads and USGS 3DEP elevation (every climb, not a list of famous ones). Access is from OpenStreetMap tags; gates and closures change, so obey posted signs. Crash counts are police reports in the California Crash Reporting System (CCRS) on data.ca.gov, counted where their map location is within 100 ft of the climb. The forecast is from the National Weather Service.
Other climbs nearby
- Foresthill Divide RoadCat 2 · 6.8 mi at 4% · 1,457 ft · starts 5.9 mi away
- Mosquito Ridge Road near ColfaxCat 2 · 9.5 mi at 3.6% · 1,795 ft · starts 6.7 mi away
- Mosquito Ridge Road near ColfaxHC · 18 mi at 4.8% · 4,596 ft · starts 6.7 mi away
- Sugar Pine RoadCat 3 · 3.4 mi at 4.1% · 738 ft · starts 6.8 mi away
- Mosquito Ridge Road near TruckeeCat 3 · 3.9 mi at 4.8% · 1,001 ft · starts 8.1 mi away
- Mosquito Ridge Road near TruckeeCat 3 · 1.8 mi at 6.8% · 636 ft · starts 8.1 mi away
- Blacksmith Flat Road near ColfaxCat 3 · 1.7 mi at 7.7% · 712 ft · starts 8.1 mi away
- Elliot Ranch RoadCat 2 · 5.6 mi at 3.8% · 1,119 ft · starts 8.1 mi away
Found from OpenStreetMap roads and USGS 3DEP elevation; ranked on shape only. Category 2: length in metres × average grade (%) of 16,000 or more for Cat 3, 32,000 for Cat 2, 64,000 for Cat 1 and 80,000 for HC. It describes how hard the climb is, not traffic or crashes. Crashes: bike crashes reported within 100 ft of the climb, 2021–2025, from the California Crash Reporting System (CCRS), counted only where the report has map coordinates. Weather: National Weather Service. Access from OpenStreetMap tags; obey posted signs. How the data works.