Steep ascent in the northern Black Forest

When you think of the Black Forest, the attention when cycling goes directly to the southern part east of Freiburg. But in the northern part of the Black Forest you can also climb, on really quiet roads. The highest peak in the northern Black Forest is the Hornisgrinde (1165 meters altitude). But since you can climb it from the Rhine Valley, the maximum difference in altitude is almost 1000 meters!

The starting point of this route is the picturesque Sasbachwalden, the flower village with many half-timbered houses. From Sasbachwalden it first goes downhill towards Rijndal, then there are the following climbs (following clockwise):

1) Unterstmatt (from the village of Aspich this is about 12 kilometers ascent).

2) Hornisgrinde-Nord, with a cul-de-sac closed to car traffic (unless the barrier is open). So you descend the same road again. The summit is located at an altitude of about 1130 meters. Together with the Unterstmatt you bridge a difference in altitude of almost 950 meters. Enjoy unobstructed views of the summit.

N.B. you can also climb directly from Sasbachwalden to the climb mentioned under point three. The journey will then be about 30 kilometers shorter and 750 meters less.

3) Markteich (or Schönbüch) (Note: The exit to this climb is in the middle of the descent of the Hornisgrinde and is therefore easy to miss due to your high speed on the descent!).

4) Kernhof-Bosenstein, an 8-kilometer climb on quiet roads and not steep. However, the last 100 meters of altitude have a gradient of 20%.

5) Rinkhalde, a climb of only 600 meters in length, but with gradients of 10% to 16%.

6) Kalikutt. The least steep of the two variants is climbed on the east side (from Ramsbach) with a maximum gradient of 13%. Another variant starts directly in Oppenau and has gradients of up to 22%.

7) Sohlberg, 4.5 km long ascent, average 10% with sections of 14%.

8) Blaubronn, enjoy the beautiful view over the foothills of the Black Forest and the Rhine Valley at the top.

9) Knetschwasen, this climb is dwarfed by all the previous climbing power.

The route runs largely on quiet roads. A couple of times it is necessary to follow a bit of a busy federal highway or country road, but often no more than 1 kilometer. Only between the summit of Unterstmatt and the foot of the Hornisgrinde-Nord follow the B500 (Black Forest High Road) for a distance of 2.5 km. This road can be flooded with motorcycles on Sundays and holidays in good weather.