cbezant's Wall

i climbed this after the Hochwald on the way back from Liestal to Basel. I was riding my Airnimal Chameleon. The first half of this climb is gentle, through farmland out of Liestal. As it approaches the hotel it starts to climb more steeply and heads up into the woods. There was a false summit, but a few hundred metres more climbing before the road finally topped out at a crossroads. A lot easier than the Hochwald because it has easier sections between the steep bits. But really nice scenery and an interesting route back.

I discovered this hill in descent one night after climbing the Hochwald. It was steep and nerve-wracking at the top, even before I saw the 20% signs. This sort of gradient is dangerous if the descent continues for any distance and I took it with extreme care. Of course, once I had found this hill I knew I would have to climb it.

A week later I set off nervously out of Arlesheim. The first section past the Schloss was steep and it did not ease up much after that. I could see the fearsome ramp ahead, but mercifully it was a lot shorter than it had seemed in the night and I was able to climb it slowly in the lowest gear on my Airnimal (about 34") out of the saddle. Fortunately the next few hundred metres are flat or slightly downhill so that gives time to recover before the final steep kilometre. It is probably not as hard as the Hochwald for that reason, but it is still a stiff climb, especially for the short very steep section. Someone I was working with said that there are no 20% hills around Basel. I wish I had taken a picture of the sign but I was too busy climbing to do so.