Jacobs Ladder

glauciaregina9

I love MTBing around the peak district, and with Rushup Edge / Mam Tor being just 20 mins drive from where I live it's perfectly located...

But

I've never had the patience to attempt to ride UP Jacobs Ladder - always turns out to be much quicker just to walk the bike up

I also struggle to believe that it's possible to clean Jacobs Ladder - no stopping, dabbing etc

Has anybody actually managed this ?
How many people here even bother to try ?

gpsBRM

I tried it earlier this year. No chance of making it all the way up in one, well not me and my mate anyway. Rode all of it but certainly not without dabbing or hoyking the bike up over a couple of steps, plus some other guys walking up it did clear it quicker. Think its somewhat erroded etc since one of the mags done an article on clearing it a few years ago.

.blitz

mbr had a go earlier this year. They spent so much time sessioning it they were too knackered to ride it in the end but allegedly that Nick Craig bloke has done it.

sniper68

Liam Killeen failed last year so there's not much hope for us mortals.
Jacobs should always be ridden down 8)

I've read loads of Forum posts with people claiming to have done it but I've never witnessed it.

glauciaregina9

ibbo68 wrote:

Liam Killeen failed last year so there's not much hope for us mortals.
Jacobs should always be ridden down 8)

I've read loads of Forum posts with people claiming to have done it but I've never witnessed it.

The reason I usually end up hiking the bike UP Jacobs is cos I prefer riding DOWN the other side into Hayfield or over to Kinder Reservoir

Maybe one day I'll reverse my routes...


I've got the Cut Gate / Doctors Gate loop pencilled in soon. Never done that, despite all these years riding in the Peaks :-)

sniper68

glauciaregina9 wrote:

The reason I usually end up hiking the bike UP Jacobs is cos I prefer riding DOWN the other side into Hayfield or over to Kinder Reservoir

Maybe one day I'll reverse my routes...


I've got the Cut Gate / Doctors Gate loop pencilled in soon. Never done that, despite all these years riding in the Peaks :-)

That's really the only good descent you get going that way.Then you climb up Roych and Rushup.Personal preference I suppose.
As for the other well I've done Cutgate literally dozens of times 8) We fancy Doctors Gate but I'm not trudging 5 miles or so on Tarmac along the busy and potentially lethal A57 from Ladybower so we'll do it as an out and back from Glossop 8)

blister pus

you can make it when you're being stubborn and pig headed and doing it as a point of principal thing but it's laborious (and potentially joyless and therefore ultimately pointless) - it's not something you'd wake up in the morning and skip and dance up like a mountain ibex for a laugh

MarkLG

Always done the ladder as a downhill myself. The descent down the other side doesn't look as 'interesting'.
If you do it as part of a loop from Hope, through Castleton, over Rushup Edge, around Mount Famine, over the ladder and back round to Hope it makes a nice circuit taking in some of the best descents in the Peaks.
I set off to do it on Sunday morning, but the wind was pretty fierce as I headed up out of Castleton, so I decided to head over to Hollins Cross and onto Hope Cross and the Beast instead.

BigJimmyB

Only been once, place was chokka with red-socks - no chance of even making an attempt....

sniper68

BigJimmyB wrote:

Only been once, place was chokka with red-socks - no chance of even making an attempt....

Avoid on a weekend,especially if the weathers good.Mid-week is generally quiet,same as everywhere in the Dark Peak really.