Smugglers Notch (VT-108)

The most dramatic cycling ascent in northern Vermont and one of the most scenically unusual climbs in the eastern United States. The Smugglers Notch road through Mount Mansfield State Forest is a geological anomaly: a glacial notch (U-shaped valley carved by ice) with sheer 300m cliff walls rising on both sides of a road so narrow it is closed to RVs and buses. The climb from Stowe is 4.8km at a 7.7% average, but the final kilometre through the notch itself is extraordinarily steep — ramps of 16-19% on a road that barely admits two cars side by side, with enormous boulders that have fallen from the cliff walls and been simply incorporated into the road verge over centuries. The atmosphere in the notch is genuinely oppressive: no sunlight reaches the road floor from late morning as the cliffs block the angle of the sun. The summit at 586m opens to a dramatic view south across the Lamoille Valley and the ski resort infrastructure of Smugglers Notch Resort. This road is closed from November through mid-May due to snow accumulation in the notch.