Where to go in USA for an Alps like experience?

I glanced at this profile scrolling through and immediately recognized it, even though it’s been over 20 years since I did it. That was an epic day - 129 miles with 16,000 feet elevation gain, most of the peaks at about 8500 feet.

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I have not had the opportunity to climb in the Alps, so apologies if I did not understand the assignment ;-), but if you are primarily looking for extended climbs in a beautiful setting, I’ll mention a few that I didn’t see in the prior responses.
Pikes Peak (CO) – this is an epic climb; very challenging due to elevation
Haleakala (HI) – I haven’t done it yet, but it’s one of the biggest climbs in the world
and in the East, smaller scale but still challenging:
Skyline Drive, Front Royal gate to Hogback summit (VA)
Reddish Knob (WV) – there are road routes and a challenging gravel route, which have been featured in the Alpine Loop Gran Fondo
Spruce Knob (WV – Climbing Spruce Knob , WV by bike - cycling data and info is one route, and there’s a fun gravel race called GRUSK that incorporates this mountain)
I’ll second Mount Mitchell in NC as well. Great climb, and there is a ton of world class cycling around Asheville.

Whiteface mountain in upstate NY is similar to the alpe d’huez in length and elevation gain. There’s a nice building at the top too. Lake Placid region has a lot of nice riding too.

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You can explore all sorts of climbs with this site.

I never did any climbing in the US, but I am familiar with the alps and pre-alps (as I have lived in Bavaria for many years). I have also lived in Japan near the “Japanese alps”.

That being said, “the alps” have quite varied terrain and it isn’t clear to me what that would mean. I know what I like when it comes to climbing, and that can be found in the alps for sure. But that’s usually a combination of scenery, lack of traffic and roads that are nice to ride.

As a Brit, specifically a Southern Brit; these elevation figures blow my mind. The highest point we have around here is about 230m above sea-level :smile:

Last summer in interior BC, I did 6 different rides that had single climbs of at least 1100m, all within about a 2.5 hour drive of where I was staying. Most aren’t averaging Alps gradients, but serious gains.

Hedley → Apex (21km, ~1420m) This is gravel, and not smooth packed gravel either!
Penticton → Apex (30km, ~1400m)
Revelstoke → Mt. Revelstoke (26km, ~1380m)
Peachland → Pennask (35km, ~1370m)
Oliver → Mt Baldy (37km, ~1365m) Largely gravel.
Vernon → SilverStar (20km, ~1150m)

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