Baba is a climb of 5.2 kilometers (category 3). The climb finishes at 526 m above sea level. It is located in Pernek, Bratislavský kraj, Slovensko. The average gradient is 4.5% with a maximum of 6.6%. The climb has 233 meters of elevation gain.
Difficulty breakdown: The Baba from Pernek is a 3rd category climb, 5.2 km long with 233 m of elevation gain and an average gradient of 4.5%. The difficulty lies mainly in its consistency: the sections alternate between 4% and 5% with no break and no respite. The KM 3.5-4.0, KM 4.0-4.5 and KM 4.5-5.0 sections, all at 5%, are among the most demanding parts, because they come back to back in the second half of the effort. The KM 5.0-5.2 section, at 4%, thankfully offers a slightly easier finish.
Tips for the effort:
1. Control the start. In the KM 0.0-0.5 section at 5%, spin an easy gear and avoid going out too hard so you keep something in the tank.
2. Make the most of the 4% sections. On the KM 1.5-2.0 and KM 2.0-2.5 sections, keep a high cadence to recover while still making good progress.
3. Save something for the finish. After the KM 4.5-5.0 section at 5%, keep enough left to kick again in the KM 5.0-5.2 section all the way to the summit.
The climb is mainly worth it for its bends. Several reports talk about switchbacks and stretches "full of corners", and motorcyclists are the ones who mention them most. The surface is patchy: part of it has just been resurfaced, but other sections are full of bumps and poorly done patches. One regular puts it bluntly: "shame, the line is beautiful, but the road is knackered".
The big negative is traffic and parking. Bikers fly through on weekends, both up and down, and riders who've been out there find them dangerous. In winter, cars park wherever they can, and one rider spent about forty minutes looking for a spot. Some even say it was hard to cross the car park on foot. The noise from the bikes gets mentioned too, and nobody's trying to excuse it.
At the top there's a small bufet on the slope, cash only. People grab a coffee, a mulled wine, a kapustnica or a sausage, and it's a proper warm-up in winter. The poppy seed strudels and pagáčiky come up again and again in the reports. There are heated toilets, with the key asked for at the bufet and a voluntary donation. The hotel building, on the other hand, is described as falling apart, and the other side of the pass is dry as far as services go.
For mountain bikers, there are trails of different levels maintained by a local club, and the chairlift is sometimes running a few days a year to take bikes up. There are also walking routes, with WWII remains such as trenches, anti-tank blocks and machine-gun nests, plus some leftover mines. Skiing is possible on a 500 m run, very busy at weekends, and kids love sledging. One rider noted that the 1000 m run hasn't been working for years.
5.2 km • 233 m D+
VAM: average climbing speed, based on elevation gain
Join thousands of cycling fans! Plan your rides, record your performance, track your progress and discover the finest climbs.
Live climb profile to pace your effort all the way to the top.
