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Check with the USGS to verify your info. Like any information or statistics it depends on what your measuring or trying to calculate. Duluth has longer/steeper hills than San Francisco, so Duluth is hillier.
They may be longer in places but are most definitely not steeper.
Check with the USGS to verify your info. Like any information or statistics it depends on what your measuring or trying to calculate. Duluth has longer/steeper hills than San Francisco, so Duluth is hillier.
I think you may be incorrect. By most measures, San Francisco would be steeper than Duluth. Not only are there more hills, but they are also steeper. I think Pittsburgh is San Francisco's closest competitor in the hilly category.
I think you may be incorrect. By most measures, San Francisco would be steeper than Duluth. Not only are there more hills, but they are also steeper. I think Pittsburgh is San Francisco's closest competitor in the hilly category.
Definitely steeper as the steepest hill in Duluth is "only" 27% compared to verified 31.5% to 37% in San Francisco but Duluth has many many +20% grades (+27% 5th Ave, +25.5% 19th Ave,+23.2% 4th St, +22% 18th1/2, + 21.5% 19 1/2)
Of course there are many more..but SF is much bigger city so it definitely does have more steep roads overall. Pittsburgh still has the verified steepest at 35% for Canton (some say 37%) until Bradford in SF can be verified at 40% they say Prentiss is also 37%. So are we going to count how many hills there are in the city itself or how many steep streets? Total variance between high and low? How long are these streets with steep grades? How can we count? These are critical issues depending on what you want to measure. It's not so easy to just say, "I think this place has more hills" or "they are longer" because one thinks so, one must supply facts, I think we need facts!! In terms of number of hills and steep grades, there are a lot of cities all around the country with a lot of hills and/or some that have 15-25% grades for just a block or so. So again it depends on what your trying to classify, Most hills? Steep hills, bluffs or cliffs? Length of hills? Most steep long streets? We need to remember SF, Duluth and many many other cities on both coasts and the midwest usually located around great rivers, lakes, oceans have such steep grades you can't build on them as they are cliffs, so how's that for steep?
In the end I think first, the city itself must be built in the hills, People think of a city as "hilly" when the actual city is built on the hills, like Duluth or San Francisco. But places like LA and Albuquerque actually have way way more variance overall than either of these. So we should consider overall variance from high to low within the city, and then the steepness and number of steep streets overall should be considered. So here is some data folks...I'd love to have other people update it with other cities and information so we can better answer the "hilliest" part of the question with actual facts. I'm thinking the answer is SF, Duluth, Fitchburg Depending on what you want to
San Francisco Total Variance +925 feet (0 @ sea level to 925 ft at Mt Davidson) Many steep long streets, (someone go count them all) verified grades of +31.5% and +375 on Prentiss reported grade of 40% on Bradford as of 2010.
Duluth, MN Total Variance +827 feet (600 ft @ Lake Superior to 1427) Many steep long streets, really one big long hill or ridge +27% grade verified
Fitchburg MA, this is the wild card to me because I can't find the lowest point in Fitchburg nor the steepest hill thus I can't determine the actual total elevation variance nor steepest grade. So until this info can be provided and verified it is unknown. However I am logically guessing that the Nashua River is the lowest point in the city and if so and the info online is correct (who knows) then the total variance is +816 feet (394 at the river to 1210 feet at the highest point in the city) Lots of hills but how long or steep are they? Thus like the total variance, as of yet unverified...
Pittsburgh PA Total Variance +660 ft (710 feet to 1370 feet) +35% grade on Canton, Canton St in Pittsburgh is still listed as officially the steepest street in the USA not any in Sf although Bradford in SF as of 2010 has been reported as 40%. Hhhmmm
Los Angeles Total variance 5074 feet! (0 sea level to 5074 feet at Mount Lukens) So technically if one is measuring just by variance LA crushes everything else by far. Plus it has a +33% grade on Eldred Street! So by these facts alone LA is more "hilly" than San Francisco or Duluth when considering total elevation difference and a very steep street.This is a perfect example of how statistics can be misleading as LA is both a very hilly but also very flat city and most people don't say or think about it as such a hilly place but that said, there are the facts!
Seattle Total Variance +520 feet (0 @ sea level to 520 feet), lots of hills, +21% verified grade on E Roy St.
How about Albuquerque? 4900 ft near the Rio Grande and 6700 feet near the Sandia Heights? +1800 ft total variance. I was there 20 years ago, but i can't remember it too well, guessing it gets pretty hilly here or there, anything steep? Is the city built on it?
Definitely steeper as the steepest hill in Duluth is "only" 27% but for how long and I'm not so sure how we can count hills? These are critical issues depending on what you want to measure. It's not so easy to just say, this place has more hills or they are longer because one thinks so, facts, we need facts!! In terms of steep grades, hell there are hills all around the country that are 15-25% grades for a block or so. I live a very steep grade in Saint Paul Minnesota, so it's far from flat here but it's certainly not "the" hilliest place in the USA because of it. So again it depends on what your trying to classify, most hills? Steep hills? Length of hills?
In the end I think overall variance is the most important and then steepness and number of hills are next and thus here is the data folks...
San Francisco Total Variance +925 feet (0 @ sea level to 925 ft at Mt Davidson) Many long hills, verified grades of +31.5% and reported grade of 40% on Bradford as of 2010.
Duluth, MN Total Variance +827 feet (600 ft @ Lake Superior to 1427) Lots of hills, longer hills, +27% grades
Fitchburg MA, this is the wild card to me because I can't find the lowest point in Fitchburg nor the steepest hill thus I can't determine the actual total elevation variance nor steepest grade. So until this info can be provided and verified it is unknown. However I am logically guessing that the Nashua River is the lowest point in the city and if so and the info online is correct (who knows) then the total variance is +816 feet (394 at the river to 1210 feet at the highest point in the city) Lots of hills but how long or steep are they? Thus
like the total variance, as of yet unverified...
Pittsburgh PA Total Variance +660 ft (710 feet to 1370 feet) +35% grade on Canton, Canton St in Pittsburgh is still listed as officially the steepest street in the USA not any in Sf although Bradford in SF as of 2010 has been reported as 40%. Hhhmmm
Los Angeles Total variance 5074 feet! (0 sea level to 5074 feet at Mount Lukens) So technically if one is measuring just by variance LA crushes everything else by far. Plus it has a +33% grade on Eldred Street! So by these facts alone LA is way more hilly than San Francisco or Duluth etc.. This is a perfect example of how statistics can be misleading as LA is both a very hilly but also very flat city and most people don't say or think about it as such a hilly place but that said, there are the facts!
Seattle Total Variance +520 feet (0 @ sea level to 520 feet), lots of hills, +21% verified grade on E Roy St.
Fitchburg was built on rapids (as it's a mill town) so that Nashua river drops dramatically through town.
Fitchburg was built on rapids (as it's a mill town) so that Nashua river drops dramatically through town.
Thanks for the info. I wonder what the lowest point in the city is? If we can find that then we would know the total variance from high point to low point in the city.
People in Duluth (and Fitchburg) maybe because they are smaller cities or because they are busy with other things like work or their families don't seem to keep data on the steepness of their hills like SF or its denizens do. Can we trust some guy in Duluth with a bike altimeter or a meter in his car? I asked somebody in Duluth a couple years ago what the steepest street was and he said "Who knows, they're steep, try driving on it in the snow or playing catch with a ball as a kid. The odd man out was always the one who had to run down two miles down to a lake the size of Kentucky, the biggest lake on planet earth, to retrieve the ball and then run back up some ridiculously steep street, pushing or exceeding +30% grade for 2 miles, on cobblestones, in the snow and it's -10 below..."
Last edited by JMT; 09-08-2012 at 09:54 AM..
Reason: removed broken link
"The city of Duluth did point out that there may be steeper roads than this (+27%) because they do not catalog the streets by their grade so they were using their experience to compile the list, and they may have forgotten one. If you can think of a steeper street, let me know in the comments area below and I will take my trusty angle locator to the scene and investigate."
I thought so..Sorry San Francisco, Pittsburgh or where ever else in the US or Canada, unless you want to send some scientists up here to the Hinterlands of Duluth to do the tests you'll never convince me that there steeper, longer streets than Duluth, MN. Flatlanders through and through out West ..And the people in Duluth are so nice and not uptight or pretentious or obsessed with money and they have the biggest lake in the world, a lake as big as Kentucky! And it's the world's largest farthest inland freshwater port, why there's a 1500 foot Laker coming in right now right next to that 900 foot Saltie from India as a matter of fact..Duluth is one of the most unique place on the planet...bar none... http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x1B0FuyKjX...0/DSC_0025.jpg http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TF70zfqVRQ...0/DSC_0026.jpg
Better get your brakes checked when you come to Duluth, especially when it's snowing and -30.
I think New Orleans could literally be the flattest place on the planet.
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In terms of number of hills and steep grades, there are a lot of cities all around the country with a lot of hills and/or some that have 15-25% grades for just a block or so. So again it depends on what your trying to classify, Most hills? Steep hills, bluffs or cliffs? Length of hills? Most steep long streets? We need to remember SF, Duluth and many many other cities on both coasts and the midwest usually located around great rivers, lakes, oceans have such steep grades you can't build on them as they are cliffs, so how's that for steep? 
