Butte Creek Summit

Overview

Butte Creek Summit is a Category 3 climb in the US, running 7.1 km from a start elevation of 854 m to a summit of 1154 m. That works out to a net elevation gain of 300 m at an average gradient of 4.25%. On paper this is a moderate ascent, the kind you can hold a rhythm on without blowing apart, but the category tells you it still has enough length and pitch to matter on a hard day.

The important detail is the gap between the net gain and the total ascent. You climb 300 m net, but the total ascent is 404 m, which means roughly 104 m of that work is spent regaining ground you gave back on descents and false flats. This undulation makes the climb harder than the average gradient suggests, because every downhill kicks your rhythm and every re-climb costs you fresh watts to rebuild speed.

How the Gradient Unfolds

The 4.25% average is a smoothed number that hides a lumpier reality. With 104 m of extra ascent baked in, the road clearly rolls rather than rising in one clean line, and the maximum gradient touches 12.23% on the steepest ramp. Expect the effort to arrive in bursts rather than a steady grind.

• Flatter and downhill recovery sections where the road gives back elevation
• Repeated short re-climbs to regain that lost ground, each one interrupting your cadence
• Pitches well above the 4.25% average, building toward the steepest ramp at 12.23%

Pacing Notes

On an undulating climb like this, even-effort pacing beats even-speed pacing. Chasing a fixed speed forces you to overspend on the steep re-climbs and coast the descents, wrecking your average. Instead, hold a steady sustainable power output across the whole profile, let your speed rise on the flatter sections, and accept that it will fall on the 12.23% ramp. If you don't know your ceiling, run the FTP estimator first so your target watts are grounded in your real numbers rather than guesswork.

Gearing

Your gearing should be governed by the steepest gradient, not the average. A 12.23% pitch after 100-plus metres of surplus ascent will punish anything too tall. Run a compact or sub-compact chainset paired with a wide-range cassette, something in the range of 34x32 or 34x34, so you can keep cadence up and stay seated on the steep ramp. Check your setup before the ride rather than discovering you're overgeared halfway up.

Summary

• Length: 7.1 km
• Average gradient: 4.25%
• Maximum gradient: 12.23%
• Net elevation gain: 300 m
• Total ascent: 404 m
• Category: 3

Butte Creek Summit rewards riders who read the profile rather than the average. Pace by effort, gear for the 12.23% pitch, and treat the extra 104 m of ascent as the real challenge, and this Category 3 climb becomes a controlled ride rather than a fight.