Summit Level Road Climb
- long (21.9 km)
- 14 mi
- long (21.9 km)
- of climbing (752 m)
- 2,467 ft
- of climbing (752 m)
- average grade
- 3.4%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 13.3%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 2,569 ft at the bottom to 5,036 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 Summit Level Road this week
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Is it safe to bike up Summit Level 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 Summit Level Road
- How long and steep is the Summit Level Road climb?
- 14 miles (21.9 km) at 3.4% on average, climbing 2,467 ft (752 m) from 2,569 ft to 5,036 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 13.3%. That makes it a Category 1 climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 38.34415, -120.45617, where Summit Level Road leaves Fort Mountain Road, and tops out on the road at 38.30884, -120.29954.
- Is Summit Level Road paved?
- Mostly: OpenStreetMap tags 51% 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
- Mitchell Mill RoadCat 3 · 3.3 mi at 3.3% · 568 ft · starts 1.8 mi away
- Silver Mountain RoadCat 3 · 2.8 mi at 6.9% · 1,040 ft · starts 2.7 mi away
- Railroad Flat Road from Riverview RoadCat 3 · 2.3 mi at 5% · 604 ft · starts 2.8 mi away
- Railroad Flat Road near JacksonCat 3 · 1.4 mi at 8.6% · 653 ft · starts 2.9 mi away
- Schadd's RoadCat 3 · 2.7 mi at 4% · 581 ft · starts 3.1 mi away
- Blue Mountain Road from Poverty LaneCat 3 · 6.4 mi at 3.1% · 1,037 ft · starts 3.2 mi away
- Blue Mountain Road near JacksonCat 2 · 7.6 mi at 4.1% · 1,654 ft · starts 3.2 mi away
- Ridgecrest WayCat 3 · 2.2 mi at 5.5% · 633 ft · starts 3.7 mi away
Found from OpenStreetMap roads and USGS 3DEP elevation; ranked on shape only. Category 1: 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.