Road Bike Kit - Buttertubs Pass

About the Mountain

The Buttertubs Pass located in the Yorkshire Dales in England is blessed with beautiful scenery all around the area. The thin roads are flanked on each side, in part, by stone walls.

This side of the climb starts from Hawes going towards Muker, taking you between the two Yorkshire dales of Wensleydale and Swaledale.

This side of Buttertubs Pass is steep in parts in the middle section of the climb but is not as long or high in altitude gain as a French Alpine climb. The elevation gain is 287m with an average gradient 6.5%.

The side of the Buttertubs Pass from Hawes to Buttertubs was featured in the first stage of the 2014 Tour de France, when the Tour started in Leeds. In 2014 the first 3 stages of the Tour de France were held in the UK. The race was led over the Buttertubs by the mighty German, Jens Voigt, on his way to becoming the 2014 race's first wearer of the polka dot jersey as the king of the mountains.

After leaving Hawes village, the road climbs a little and then at a right turn towards Muker, the gradient ramps up here to almost 20%. From this point the climb ramps up constantly with a fluctuating, relentless gradient. Buttertubs Pass is quite exposed and for that reason is subject to strong winds and rain at times.

The Buttertubs Pass ascent can also be attempted from Thwaite to the summit. This side is around 4km at an average gradient at 6% with a maximum gradient of around 17%. The elevation gain on this side is 260m.

The Buttertubs Pass was to be used again in the Road World Championships held in Yorkshire, U.K. in September 2019 but the climb was removed from the route due to bad weather.