Skyway Climb from Butte Creek Flat Road
- long (4.0 km)
- 2.5 mi
- long (4.0 km)
- of climbing (176 m)
- 577 ft
- of climbing (176 m)
- average grade
- 4.3%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 7.6%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 4,478 ft at the bottom to 5,056 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 Skyway this week
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Is it safe to bike up Skyway?
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 Skyway
- How long and steep is the Skyway from Butte Creek Flat Road climb?
- 2.5 miles (4.0 km) at 4.3% on average, climbing 577 ft (176 m) from 4,478 ft to 5,056 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 7.6%. That makes it a Category 3 climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 40.07683, -121.55767, where Skyway leaves Butte Creek Flat Road, and tops out on the road at 40.05875, -121.54954.
- Is Skyway paved?
- Yes, by its OpenStreetMap tags.
- 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
- Humboldt Road near ParadiseCat 2 · 6.5 mi at 5.8% · 1,969 ft · starts 3.5 mi away
- West Branch Camp RoadCat 3 · 1.3 mi at 8.6% · 577 ft · starts 4.0 mi away
- Humboldt Road from Deer Creek HighwayCat 3 · 3.0 mi at 5.7% · 889 ft · starts 4.1 mi away
- Old Loma RoadCat 3 · 1.9 mi at 6.6% · 640 ft · starts 4.3 mi away
- Carpenter Ridge Road near ParadiseCat 3 · 2.3 mi at 5.6% · 692 ft · starts 4.9 mi away
- Humboldt RoadCat 1 · dirt · 6.6 mi at 6.1% · 2,129 ft · starts 5.9 mi away
- Lassen TrailCat 1 · dirt · 7.7 mi at 5.2% · 2,129 ft · starts 6.4 mi away
- Concow Road from Philbrook RoadCat 3 · 3.6 mi at 3.9% · 755 ft · starts 6.6 mi away
Found from OpenStreetMap roads and USGS 3DEP elevation; ranked on shape only. Category 3: 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.