Hen Ffordd
419.0 m · net rise 39.5 m · total ascent 40.6 m · overall 9.4% · confidence: good · Bwlch · Powys
Shape: sustained — 43% of the climbing sits in a quarter of the distance; longest continuous stretch at 10%+ is 106 m.
Found purely from mapping and LiDAR data, and not yet matched against books, race records or lists — it may be well known to locals under a name we've never heard. It was cross-checked against the OS road network, surface models and map tags, but a discovery can still be an artifact of the terrain model or the map. Treat it as a well-evidenced hypothesis until someone has ridden it. If you know this road, tell us what you found — photographs, corrections and local knowledge all welcome; the map links below let you scout it first.
≈ Overhead cover (tree canopy or structures) spans 14% of this route — detected by comparing the surface model (DSM, treetops and rooftops) against the terrain model (DTM, bare ground). Under cover the bare-ground model is built from fewer laser returns, so metre-scale readings can wobble; maxima whose window sits in a covered zone are marked ≈ below — less certain — the flag does not say whether the true value is higher or lower. Longer windows average over more clean ground and are steadier.
Gradient ladder what do windows mean?
| Window | Maximum | Located at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 m (diagnostic) | ≈43% | 177–179 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 53.9% at 387–389 m across a structure — excluded |
| 3 m (diagnostic) | ≈36% | 391–394 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 45.4% at 386–389 m across a structure — excluded |
| 5 m | ≈32% | 391–396 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 37.1% at 384–389 m across a structure — excluded |
| 10 m | ≈24% | 374–384 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 32.1% at 386–396 m across a structure — excluded |
| 20 m | ≈22.6% | 364–384 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 28.5% at 377–397 m across a structure — excluded |
| 25 m | ≈21.0% | 359–384 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 27.1% at 372–397 m across a structure — excluded |
| 50 m | ≈17.2% | 334–384 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 21.3% at 347–397 m across a structure — excluded |
| 100 m | ≈14.1% | 284–384 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 17.0% at 299–399 m across a structure — excluded |
may_continue_beyond_end Extent detection suggests reviewing where this climb starts/ends.
Map
Check this route yourself: Google Maps route via their router · Street View at the base where coverage exists · geojson.io our exact measured line · OpenTopoMap
This climb's data: OCL JSON — the full gradient ladder, quality flags and provenance in the OpenClimb Ladder format.
Ridden it, or know better? Submit data for this climb no account needed
© OpenStreetMap contributors · topo tiles © OpenTopoMap (CC-BY-SA) · vector tiles OpenFreeMap
Profile
Provenance
{
"analysis_version": "0.1.0",
"sample_interval_m": 1.0,
"interpolation": "bilinear",
"smoothing": "none",
"gradient_windows_m": [
5.0,
10.0,
20.0,
25.0,
50.0,
100.0
],
"diagnostic_windows_m": [
2.0,
3.0
],
"elevation_crs": "EPSG:27700",
"elevation_resolution_m": 1.0,
"elevation_tiles": [
"data/cache/wales/dtm_1m/wg_del_20_314221_20220112dtm.tif",
"data/cache/wales/dtm_1m/wg_del_20_314222_20220112dtm.tif",
"data/cache/wales/dtm_1m/wg_del_20_315221_20220112dtm.tif",
"data/cache/wales/dtm_1m/wg_del_20_315222_20220112dtm.tif"
],
"calculated_at": "2026-08-12T09:10:33+00:00",
"road_source": "OpenStreetMap (local PBF extract)",
"road_attribution": "\u00a9 OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL",
"osm_pbf_path": "data/cache/pbf/wales-2026-08-11.osm.pbf",
"osm_snapshot": "2026-08-10T20:21:40Z",
"elevation_provider": "Welsh Government",
"elevation_dataset": "Welsh Government LiDAR 1m DTM (2020-2023)",
"elevation_licence": "Open Government Licence v3 \u2014 \u00a9 Crown copyright Welsh Government",
"elevation_catalogue_layer": "geonode:welsh_government_lidar_tile_catalogue_2020_2023",
"elevation_tile_ids": [
"wg_del_20_314221_20220112dtm.tif",
"wg_del_20_314222_20220112dtm.tif",
"wg_del_20_315221_20220112dtm.tif",
"wg_del_20_315222_20220112dtm.tif"
],
"elevation_capture_dates": [
"12-01-2022"
],
"climb_origin": "discovered",
"notes": "Coarse pass: max 8.8% over 200 m (Terrain 50), gain 32.8 m over 373 m way. EXTENDED by graph walk: +0 segment(s) at base, +1 at top (stop: base=no_descending_continuation, top=no_ascending_continuation; min_avg=2.0%). Review before adopting. ADOPTED (notable slice 2026-08-11): clean-steep."
}