Sunday, March 12, 2006

Almaden Valley Snow Line

MtUmhunumSnowCap
Snow covers 6 story tracking
tower atop Mt Umhunum


Well spring might be just around the corner but it's snowing in Almaden Valley. With the jet stream coming in from Alaska the snow line came down below 1000 feet. Yesterday I toured the valley and got these photos.

Today Jon and I rode up Hicks road to Mt Umhunum. A tough climb - 2500 verticle in 4 miles. They should put this climb in the Amgen Tour of California next year and have a hill top finish.


Route up Mt Umhunum


Climb Profile


There is a property owner that will not allow anyone to travel the section of Mt Umhunum road that goes through his property so it is impossible to ride all the way to the top of the military base and the 6 story tracking station at the top. This is most unfortunate as it would be a world class Hors Category climb at just under 3500 vertical feet in 8 miles with much of the climb at over 13%.

From the Bike
From the bike

Richard Treadway

1 comment:

Arik said...

I like the idea of using Umhunum as a hill top finish in the ToC. After the stage, the riders can practice their bike handling dodging the shotgun blasts from the crazy landowner up there.