Falls Creek (Mt. Beauty side)
Length: 13.2km
Average gradient: 5.7%
Introduction
The climb from Bogong to Falls Creek is a beautiful ascent through one of Victoria’s most picturesque regions. While a fairly gentle gradient is maintained throughout most of this terrific climb, the final few kilometres are noticeably steeper than earlier sections.
The Start
The Falls Creek (Mt. Beauty side) climb begins where the Bogong High Plains Road (C531) crosses the Pretty Valley Branch of the East Kiewa River, around 2.5km south of the Bogong Alpine Village.
The Finish
The Falls Creek (Mt. Beauty side) climb ends at the brick wall at the entrance to the Falls Creek Ski Resort.
Riding the climb
The climbing starts as soon as you cross the East Kiewa River but at around 5%, it’s easy to get settled into a comfortable rhythm. When the road bends around to the left after 400m of climbing, you’ll notice lush ferns on either side of the road, a sight that you’ll enjoy throughout this gorgeous alpine climb.
At the 800m mark the road bends around to the right then sharply around to the left before flattening out momentarily. At the 1km mark you’ll take a long right-hand bend which then opens out to views of the mountain ahead of you. 300m later you’ll reach another sharp right-hand bend, Junction Spur, which provides terrific views to the left of the road but has the tendency to sneak up on careless riders on the descent.
After 1.5km the road has flattened off somewhat and for the next couple kilometres you’ll wind your way gently upward with great views often available to the right-hand side of the road. By the 4km mark the gradient has returned to around 5% and beautiful ferns cover both sides of the road once more.
After 4.8km the road has flattened off slightly again as it bends around to the left. 300m later you’ll head around a very sharp right-hander where the tree cover becomes noticeably heavier. The gradient remains gentle over the next few kilometres before a short downhill section at the 6.3km mark ends at a sharp right-hand hairpin at which point the gradient kicks back up to around 5-6%.
Before long the road has flattened out once again and after a sharp right-hander at 7.0km and a long sweeping left-hander 100m later the road winds its way along the ridge line and into another slight downhill after 7.6km. At the 7.8km mark you’ll reach one of the climb’s most iconic bends – a very sharp left-hand hairpin that kicks the gradient up to around 7% for a couple hundred metres.
With valley views now possible to the left of the road, the gradient returns to around 3-4% at the 8.0km mark and the gentle winding continues. For the next kilometre or so the road winds left and right through beautiful ferns and native eucalypts with the gradient fluctuating between flat and around 4%.
After passing the Howman Gap YMCA building at the 9.3km mark the road has emerged from the trees and 100m later you’ll pass the Falls Creek tollbooth on your left. Until now the climbing has been fairly gentle but beyond the tollbooth the road becomes noticeably steeper.
For these remaining 4.8km the gradient sits at around 5-6% as the road winds its way ever closer to Falls Creek . At the 10.2km mark you’ll pass through a steep little left-hander and 400m later you’ll bend back the opposite way as the road sweeps tightly around to the right.
After 11.3km of climbing you’ll catch your first glimpse of the Falls Creek Ski Resort which only serves as further motivation to get through the remaining few kilometres. Climbing at around 5% the road winds its way gently along the ridge with valley views available on the left-hand side of the road. At the 11.9km mark the gradient eases off slightly and 800m later you’ll bend around to the right and catch a fuller glimpse of the resort ahead of you. From this point it’s only 600m to the end of the climb, as designated by the end of the brick wall, opposite the Gateway Cafe.
Profile
This profile was created using BikeRouteToaster. To see a full version of this climb, including full elevation details, click here.
Location
Falls Creek is located around 400km north-east of Melbourne in the heart of Victoria’s alpine district. Driving from the state capital to Falls Creek makes for a long day behind the wheel, taking over 5 hours via the Hume Freeway (M31), Great Alpine Road (B500) from Wangaratta, the Tawonga Gap Road (C536) from Germantown and the Bogong High Plains Road (C531) from Mt. Beauty.
Popular launch sites for an attempt at the Falls Creek (Mt. Beauty side) climb include Bright (including the Tawonga Gap climb as a warm-up), Mt. Beauty or any number of other townships in the area.
Times
If you’re the sort of cyclists that likes the added challenge of racing against the clock, Cycle2Max has you covered. Head over there to see how your best time up the Falls Creek (Mt. Beauty side) climb compares to those registered by other rides.
mmmmm, cat 2 ?? not really in agreement with that. reckon its more cat 1, as its arguably the same difficulty as Donna Buang, which you’ve ranked as cat 1. In fact Donna is easier, as its a consistant gradient, whilst Falls is continuosly changing its gradient, which makes it very difficult to get into a good tempo on.
Having ridden both climbs on a number of occasions, I’d say Matt’s rating is accurate: Falls Creek is considerably easier than Donna Buang.
Matt’s profile doesn’t include the initial climb and (short) descent from Mount Beauty to Bogong Village, which you have to do on the way to the bottom of the Falls climb proper. It’s about 30 km all-up from Mount Beauty, and there’s over 1000 metres of ascending in total. Even so, it’s not steep, it’s just long.
If you want to add a bit more climbing to your ride, the road doesn’t actually stop ascending at the village, though the “Falls Creek climb” ends by tradition there. The road continues to climb about a kilometre further up to the Rocky Valley Dam.