Anyone with the legs to get them to a high point in the world—be it a peak, as on Everest, or a terraced view on the side of a city hill—knows the feeling of looking out from the top down (figuratively). But what about the feeling of looking up? While the highest peak in the world, at 29,032 feet, rises about 12,000 feet above its base for an average slope of about 8, I’ve teased out every monstrosity that rises at an average of 9 or greater or looks or feels at least as vertical if not steeper because of its circumstances. The steepest oft-cited face in the world is Mount Thor in Canada at a slope of 1055 (or 15), for a run of 4,101 feet on a rise of 4,041 feet. That’s wild, but be honest: Are you in any rush to climb it? In any kind of a rush at all?
Factors Contributing to Verticality
There are many factors that come into play when determining how vertical or flat a particular hike is. One of these can be geology. Depending on the composition of the rock or earth, trails may erode faster or slower than usual. Geology can even determine what color and texture many hikes are around the world. Another possible way trails become so vertical is the aid of human engineering. Steps, cables, ladders, chains, and even hand-carved notches are all examples of trail engineering that humans have used to create some of the steepest hikes around the world. However, it is most often the trails that combine the highest amounts of handcrafted technology with wild and gnarled geology that evoke the sensations of verticality described previously. Regardless of how each trail achieves it, what they share in common are astronomical amounts of elevation gain in small distances.
Some of the hiking trails we featured in our list are located in areas that have been subject to vertical uplift. This term describes an event or process of geologic uplift that has caused this region to rise above the surrounding area over geologic time. This kind of geological event can create continents that ramp up from flat shorelines and create vertical coasts. Wild erosion can follow this uplift, and geology may erode for millions of years. This kind of uplift can leave behind a huge amount of wild geology and famously tall climbs that are popular climbing destinations. Even in an age where humans have conquered many challenging landscapes, the tallest and most awe-striking climbs still lie in these originary vertical uplifted regions.
Geological Formation
The construction of a trail is not the point in these hiking trails – the point is how incredibly vertical they really are. To determine a trail’s steepness and ascendability, mountaineers, hikers, and geographers utilize an equation. This equation is known as the grade or the slope. The result of dividing the rise (vertical hike) by a run (horizontal hike) is used to determine the grade. Despite the fact that steep grades and vertical hiking trails can be artificially constructed using wood, steel, and labor, 99 percent of the world’s vertical hikes are due to geological formation.
Rock falls, erosion, flood plains, earth flows, fault block movements, glacier carving, and lava flows are just a few of the internal and external forces that drive and shape the earth’s crust into mountainous terrain. Although the process of formation and thousands of feet per second would require millions of years to amass, the resulting range and verticality are all on display every time you glance out over the Grand Canyon, Banff National Park, or the coast of Na Pali. Consequently, the term hiking has been intentionally excluded to describe the vertical trails to denote non-uphill trails that drain between several dozen feet to tens of thousands of vertical feet. Just because a hiking trail is marked does not make its degree accurate. This is particularly true once one begins to examine cliffs, basalt pipes, or towers.
Elevation Gain
After sorting out your definition of vertical, let me now confuse the issue even further: The elevation gain – at times called ascent – of a hike. Like length, gain is pretty straightforward, ignoring such petty concerns as grade and switchbacks. It is the feet or meters you will climb while ascending your trail.
Hike up to the summit of Pico Ruivo, in the Scoria of Madeira Island. Skyrunning. Traversing Bali mountains to the coast. Length is made up of switchbacks and mileage; in other words, distance entails the effort required to zigzag up the mountainside.
Now, as the crow flies, or more accurately, on a map, we can get to our trail’s highest elevation. And as noted earlier, hikers are not crows. They must follow the trail’s contour, and that means every surplus mile secures additional elevation gain. Two extra miles each contain 500 feet of gain, and the necessary climb quickly accumulates. Switchbacking does not affect this gain. What ascends by zigzagging will simply negate a portion of its gain by curving back upon arrival. Many switchbacks will just mean a longer and more forgiving ascent.
Overall gain and gain per mile provide another measure of a trail’s challenge. That number is how many feet or meters you’ll climb every mile or kilometer your trail covers. Additionally, elevation loss, or descent, can be an easy half mile-trade when going down a trail. In exchange for those extra few meters, the trailhead may be reached quicker.
Although Longs Peak awaits the same as before, the hike via the shorter trail involves a steeper start from the head. That remains firmly ascendant. So to crown the world’s other commencement with “highest?” Absolutely not.
Challenges and Rewards of Vertical Hiking
Vertical hiking can be tough on the body and the mind. The effort can be grueling, and time slows down significantly as the grade steepens. A summit a mere four miles away might take hours to reach due to the sheer effort of ascending such a precipitous climb. Ample food, proper gear, and enough water are required. To tackle the most vertical hikes in the world, it takes a combination of endurance, balance, experience with using ropes, and trust in one’s abilities. Many vertical hikers never look down for fear that it will unnerve them. Many rely on decades of climbing or scrambling – moving across and up surfaces using one’s hands and feet, employing friction and free-climbing techniques. They pride themselves, above all, on their ability to find and follow the safest and loosest rock faces on which others simply can’t manage to go up. Further adding to the difficulty is that they must be able to recollect these routes while turned around or obstructed with climbers on various pitches.
Many vertical hikers know the pain of having climbed for hours, only to turn around and realize that they strayed slightly from their intended path. Thus, the venture requires both determination and a good spirit to work one’s way through the crude mountain terrain. When vertical hikers do reach their goal, the sensations are gratifying. The associated bragging rights can be intense, and the ability to use them during negotiations can be all the more that much better. Some vertical hikers become quite expert in abseil – the art of sliding down mountainsides using a rope – which can also look good on the resume. The most vertical hikes in the world draw applicants from just about all over the globe; though after hardship, some say the journey is bordering on absurd.
Physical Endurance
Hikers willing to take on the otherworldly trek face a climbing elevation of over 8,400 feet and a series of spiraling switchbacks that scale the rock walls of the canyon. Hikers should set aside between two and three days, about four to five hours each day, to complete the descent and ascent. One of the main considerations is physical endurance, as the emptiness and altitude of the Andes create another layer of difficulty. The real test, however, comes when ascending to the village after hiking the canyon, but anyone with a good level of stamina and fitness will feel fine in order to complete it.
If you’re not someone who’s very active, climbing down and up this rather steep canyon probably will not be an option as it’s dangerously strenuous on your body, especially once you’ll have to make your way back up the canyon, a 45° steep incline, at the end of the tour. Physical fitness and mental strength are musts for any of these trekking tours, especially on the steepest and highest climbing wall, named ‘Rodilla del Diablo’ (or “Devil’s Knee”). While some travelers get out of breath and experience difficulty just on walking from the Cruz de Condor Viewpoint back to Cabanaconde, you’ll never believe that the next day they fly from Arequipa because it isn’t the 3-4 hours of gentle downhill walking that tire them but the 1040 meters steep descent and 3.5 hours of a much steeper climb to the canyon’s floor. Climbing down to the oasis and then up is too strenuous when you’re not prepared.
Mental Preparedness
The mental game of extreme exercise is often far more difficult than the physical side of things. The best advice is to handle one room, ladder, or via ferrata at a time. Use physical training or psychological tricks to keep you positive and focused, and visualize yourself completing the route as you take rest breaks. Visualization has been shown to improve performance and can also be used to alleviate fears of any kind.
Momentary bouts of vertigo are completely normal, and are your mind’s way of protecting you from a dangerous situation. These episodes usually end within a few seconds and should ease off as your hike continues to progress. The sensation is caused by the fluid in your ears not adapting as fast as the visual cues in front of your eyes, causing an overcompensation by the eyes. Things that can exacerbate these dizzy feelings are fatigue, dehydration, and low energy levels. You can train yourself to manage this sensation with repeated exposure and time spent at elevation. From mountaintops to valley floors, the way our minds perceive the vertical and interact with the extreme drop-offs varies. And on certain hikes, like the spine of Mount Timpanogos glacier-cut Knife Edge in Utah’s Wasatch Range above Provo, the sensation of teetering on the brink of a vertical drop can be one of the most memorable parts of the adventure.
Top Vertical Hikes Around the Globe
There are hikes, and then there are vertical hikes. The trails, walks, paths, and staircases featured on this list are almost 95% slope and are not designed for the faint of heart or those with a fear of heights. If your griptastic shoe brand can hold onto almost 90-degree angles, then this list may be of interest to you. For those with height fear, vertigo, or anyone who has recently seen the movie Vertical Limit, you have been warned.
Half Dome, at nearly 8,800 feet, commands all the attention in Yosemite National Park and is the ultimate destination for both casual hikers and experienced climbers. Half Dome’s northwest face holds numerous routes, from the famous Royal Arches to the technical challenges found on Little John. For a really “everyone can do this” trip, beginners and kids opt for the “Cables” route. As iconic as El Capitan, Angel’s Landing is the most popular hike in the park, offering the steepest elevation change and best view. The nearly 5-mile hike takes 4 hours and gains 1,500 feet.
Mount Huashan is one of the five sacred peaks of China. At its base is a stunning temple built into the cliffs where tigers were kept in cages and hung over certain sections as a deterrent against enemies during the Ming Dynasty. The most dangerous section of the ascent is called the “Plank Walk,” which appears to be not much more than some wooden boards nailed to the mountain and held in place by an assortment of chains, most clearly added years after the fact. The boards are done, but people still walk along this route with metal rods which locals provide. Each year a few people do die falling off the mountain, so it’s pretty much the real thing if you want a life or death search for enlightenment.
Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, USA
Soaring to 8,839 feet, Half Dome is a granite giant. It seems an impossible mountain to tackle for an amateur, no matter how determined; but beneath the west-side cliff are a series of iron chains, forming an unlikely catwalk upward. The Half Dome cables are unfettered, stretching about 500 cables, clanking brass spacers, the people a sea of color. The final stretch may only be a 400-foot hike, but you’ll be moving nearly straight up. The reward is that view, though—a seemingly endless world of towering cliffs and roaring waterfalls. It’s tremendous. Yosemite, in all its sprawl, stretches before you. Half Dome was first summited in 1875, and—equipment aside—unlike our other hikes, there hasn’t been a single fatality on the cables. It’s among the most beautiful, breathtaking views in the world. And it’s nearly vertical.
Mount Huashan, China
Mount Huashan, known at various points as the West Mountain, Western Great Mountain, Taihua Mountain, and more, is one of China’s “Five Great Mountains,” which has traditionally been considered as the center of the world. Its southwestern peak (2,154 m, 7,054 ft), the tallest of the five peaks, is considered the main peak of the mountain. The Tei peak boasts an array of rocky, exposed, and dangerous hiking trails, offering stunning views. There are natural sedimentary paths like the Huashan Knife Edge and the Hundred-Foot Precipice. Every trail has a history, usually dating back to when the mountain was one of China’s earliest sites of Taoist religious practice, and monks needed to reach the various precipices and caves for their rituals and retreats.
Aside from this traditional cultural aspect, there are also more direct survival-related ones. “As cars were not widely available, there were basically no roads to many places on Huashan, let alone any paths,” Min told me. “However, many of the monks knew these trails and would guide people to different temples and destinations around the mountain. Some priests even developed these trails to attract tourists. They might place a plank to walk on between two spots.” There are different trails at Mount Huashan, and they’ve been utilized for a variety of purposes over the years. Some hiking trails provided convenient access to each of the five peaks, where monasteries and nunneries have been established. Most of these trails once offered merchants a way to bring in supplies via horses and donkeys. And some paths were exclusively used by the Taoist hermits who still live as recluses within the cold, dark caves that are scattered across the steep slopes.
Angel’s Landing, Zion National Park, USA
Angel’s Landing at Zion National Park is the first in our lineup – mostly because it is probably the most famous hike of its kind, and it’s also one of the most vertical hikes in the world. This rock canyon was formed through years of work from the Virgin River, and the hike totals 1,488 feet of elevation gain. It extends for 5.4 miles roundtrip, starting at the Grotto Trailhead. Those adventurous enough to make the journey can expect unparalleled views of the incredible jagged rock faces that encompass the canyon. Be warned, though: the top protrudes into a very narrow, sheer-nosed saddle with dizzying 1,000+ foot drop-offs on both sides. A number of people have died climbing to the top, but that also makes it one of the deadliest.
At some points, chains have been anchored into the rock face to help prevent hikers from toppling off to the sides of the trail. At the same time, the nervous person in me wonders how much good they could actually do. Would the chains just hold you in place as you rock back and forth, the way a seatbelt holds you in place during a car crash? There have been no reports supporting this, so I assume not. Like other vertical hikes, a steady condition is required to complete very steep switchbacks. The precarious position has caused a number of deaths over the years, primarily due to hikers ignoring their boundaries and the limits of the trail. Over a dozen people have died from falling. These obstacles are part of the reason why a permit is required to hike this section of the Virgin River Narrows. One person even suffered a fatal heart attack just below the end of the trail in 2010, but due to the inaccessibility of the trail to vehicles, the man’s body had to be airlifted out of the canyon by helicopter.
In conclusion, vertical hiking or climbing, where outdoor adventurers face almost extreme rockfall and constant avalanches from bad weather, is often the thrilling part of attempting the most challenging and dangerous peaks. The desire to climb such extreme peaks and traverse them in record time to gain one’s place on the wall of the mountaineer’s hall of fame drives most of the bad choices for summit day attempts. While some would argue that this part of the overall route is not hiking, for the sane majority of those who have actually successfully hiked to the base of these spectacular and wild vertical walls, the entire journey, from the trains, cars and planes to the snow and rock faces, freezing night winds and grueling ascents, as well as relationship problems, and personal doubts that one can and actually will finish the mountain adventure, all are part of the overall journey from home to summit and back.
If you want to live the history of the most difficult, dangerous and breathtaking mountains on the planet, here are the climbs that will take you there. The most vertical of all the really vertical climbs in the world, in fact! They will be awe-inspiring, do-or-die adventures for those of you who dare! So be careful! Vertical hiking calls the shots on when it is safe to hike up such close vertical conditions at these elevations. In some cases, a summit would not have been possible if extremely dangerous conditions continued on their attempt day. The need for accurate, realistic and flexible weather forecasts with the local mountain guides analyzing ground conditions week by week to maximize their clients’ summit success and minimize threats of falling and rockslides into the clients below is strong evidence for what one should be prepared for and the prime concern for climbing any of these world-class mountains. Truth may be stranger than fake news and reality TV!