Zwift Climbing Difficulty

There are a number of climbs in Zwift, but I couldn’t find an ordered list of climbs ranked by climbing category. So I pulled all the info I could find together into this page.

Zwift’s “Trainer Difficulty” Setting

Before going further I should state that this is not about how to change the Trainer Difficulty setting. When using a smart trainer, Zwift gives the rider the ability to make the virtual hills and mountains seem more or less realistic to the actual grade. I personally like to set this setting to maximum, but you may not.

Zwift’s Trainer Difficulty setting

If you are at all interested in knowing more about this, check out the following links:


Zwift Hills / Mountains By Map and Climb Category

I have taken the climb category information from Veloviewer and Strava for each climb. I have listed all the active KOM / QOM leaderboard climbs that I am currently aware of. If I have missed any, please do leave a comment and let me know.

I have also listed any “unofficial” (non KOM / QOM) climbs that are significantly challenging.

For quick reference climb categories are determined by the length of the climb in metres, multiplied by the grade of the climb. This gives:

  • Cat 4 climb: 8000
  • Cat 3 climb: 16000
  • Cat 2 climb: 32000
  • Cat 1 climb: 64000
  • HC (Hors Categorie) climb: 80000

This information is taken from Strava support

Here we go, from hardest to “easiest” climb, on each map that Zwift has to offer:

Watopia (KOM / QOM)

Rank Name Category Distance Climb Avg.
Gradient
1 Alpe du Zwift HC 12.22km 1036m 8.2%
2 Epic KOM Reverse 2 6.19km 365m 6%
3 Epic KOM Forward 2 9.41km 364m 4%
4 Volcano KOM 4 3.75km 120m 3%
5 Hilly KOM n/a 0.9km 58m 6%
6 Titans Grove Reverse n/a 0.91km 39m 4%
7 Titans Grove KOM n/a 2.61km 57m 2%
8 Hilly KOM Reverse n/a 2.49km 46m 2%

Watopia Honourable Mentions

These are good climbs without a KOM / QOM leaderboard.

RankNameCategoryDistanceClimbAvg.
Gradient
1Radio Tower41.1km150m13.7%

Climb Portal

Rank Name Category Distance Climb Avg.
Gradient
1 Col du Tourmalet HC (Hors Categorie) 17.12km 1217m 7%
2 Puy de Dome HC (Hors Categorie) 12.99km 914m 7%
3 Col d’Aspin Cat 1 13.54km 812m 5.8%
4 Bealach na Ba Cat 2 8.99km 633m 6.8%
5 Col du Platzerwasel Cat 2 7.85km 597m 7.3%
6 La Laguna Negra Cat 2 9.06km 510m 5.6%
7 Coll d’Ordino Cat 2 10.32km 505m 4.4%
8 Col des Aravis Cat 3 5.20km 280m 5.1%
9 Crow Road Cat 3 6.96km 251m 3.5%
10 Cote de Domancy Cat 3 2.97km 241m 7.9%
11 Cote de Pike Cat 3 2.18km 216m 9.1%
12 Cote de Trbiac Cat 3 4.59km 207m 4.3%

France

RankNameCategoryDistanceClimbAvg.
Gradient
1Mont Ventoux KOMHC19.05km1476m8%
2Ven-TopHC20.87km1530m7%
3Chalet Reynard KOMHC13.05km1055m8%
4Petit KOM42.67km105m4%
5Aqueduc KOM Reversen/a0.4km9m2%
6Acqueduc KOMn/a0.41km5m1%

Somewhat unusually, there are three Strava segments for different parts of the same climb on Zwift France map. All of the top three are on the same climb.


Innsbruck

RankNameCategoryDistanceClimbAvg.
Gradient
1Innsbruck KOM Reverse25.73km396m7%
2Innsbruck KOM27.4km400m5%

London

RankNameCategoryDistanceClimbAvg.
Gradient
1Keith Hill KOM34.21km221m5%
2Leith Hill KOM41.95km134m7%
3Box Hill KOM43.01km136m4%
4Fox Hill KOM42.41km120m4%

Makuri Islands

RankNameCategoryDistanceClimbAvg.
Gradient
1Temple KOM from Fishing Village Side42.5km94m3.6%
2Temple KOM from Castle Siden/a1.88km67m3.5%
3Castle KOMn/a2.67km56m2.1%
4Rooftop KOMn/a1.87km51m2.7%

New York

RankNameCategoryDistanceClimbAvg.
Gradient
1NYC KOM Forward41.36km88m6%
2NYC KOM Reversen/a1.14km68m6%

Richmond

Rank Name Category Distance Climb Avg.
Gradient
1 23rd Street KOM n/a 0.26km 27m 10%
2 Libby Hill KOM n/a 0.63km 39m 6%
3 23rd Street Reverse n/a 1.1km 39m 4%
4 Libby Hill Reverse n/a 0.69km 26m 4%

Scotland

RankNameCategoryDistanceClimbAvg.
Gradient
1Sgurr Summit Northn/a1.56km59m3.7%
2Sgurr Summit Southn/a0.99km34m3.3%
3Clyde Kickern/a0.3km11m3.6%

Yorkshire / Harrogate

RankNameCategoryDistanceClimbAvg.
Gradient
1Yorkshire KOM41.2km66m5%
2Yorkshire KOM Reverse41.16km48m4%

Other

The following are harder climbs that do not have an official Zwift KOM marker.

Bologna

Bologna is a timed lap. The climb is part of the wider fun, but is not a distinct KOM in Zwift.

RankNameCategoryDistanceClimbAvg.
Gradient
1Bologna TT Climb32.06km198m10%

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