Zwift’s Climb Portal gives Zwifters access to a growing library of famous real-life climbs in a gamified environment where roads are colored based on gradient. Learn more about the Climb Portal >
Since the Portal’s launch, Zwift has been evolving how climbs are scheduled. Starting in October, there will be two climbs live at the same time. The “climb of the month” is available via both France and Watopia, while the second climb will rotate every few days and only be available via Watopia’s Climb Portal.
See that schedule below, and click on a particular climb for details.
Wonder what the reasoning is behind only one at a time… and for so long? We know they can support multiple portals at once so it’s not a technical issue. Personally, I’d like to ride the portal climbs 2 or 3 times a week but certainly not the same one.
Yeah it’s quite tedious of them. We’re long overdue having access to all maps at once, let alone these portals.
I tried the portals for the first time last week and while not blown away by them, thought it was ok for a bit of variety, but now that variety has disappeared too.
The reason I hear, and do find myself agreeing with to a degree, is map population. They want the worlds to feel “full” and giving open access across every map would spread the numbers too thin.
Tbh I get that – very often the numbers on some of the smaller worlds can be quite low and the same seemed to be the same with the Climbing Portal after a while. Very often I would be doing climbs and not having loads of people around me despite being on UK time. It does make a difference having people around to chase or be chased by. I can understand them not having all of the climbs on now things have settled down but two or three climbs, rotated every couple of days, would make more sense. I don’t… Read more »
true, if you find yourself climbing the alpe de zwift by yourself it’s a little bit like being in Rouvy
Yeah I do understand the idea of keeping fewer maps more populated, it’s a tricky choice as I tried RGT recently and the thing that put me off was the lack of other people that zwift has, so i do get it. I’d agree with you that at least the rotation should be faster or at least put a couple of choices on.
It’s a bright blue and red map. There is no draft and the range of speeds is already so wide that comparison to others is meaningless. I don’t buy that reason
That may be a weak reason for the worlds but not for the portals. When I climb a psychedelic mountain, I do not care if there are other people around me.
Absolutely. Just give us access to all the currently available climbs and LET US CHOOSE. I don’t care if there are less riders on any given climb. I do care about finding a climb that matches my interest/workout needs on any given day. Massive own goal scored there 🤦♂️
Be nice if they had a portal in each of the world on the calendar, and each portal linked to a different climb on the schedule. That way you would have a choice of 3 climbs per day.
This is an excellent idea! French climbs in France, Scottish climbs in Scotland, other climbs rotating in watopia?
That’s Zwift, it makes absolutely no sense and the Zwift guys know the community hates it, but they do it anyway. Same thing with the world schedule, it is just annoying, there is no reason not to offer every world on every day.
Thank you, Eric. Do you plan to add the Climb Portal schedule to your “Reference” tab (which is really useful) for easy future reference?
Done!
where can I find this “Reference” tab ?
It’s a navigation option at the top of any ZwiftInsider webpage.
The climb portal was great last month. With the possibility to choose between eight different climbs, Zwift added a great new feature. With only one climb for two weeks, they decided to make the climbing portal pretty boring. Other Ciclingsoftwares have tons of different routes to choose from. Zwift has now the possibility to have the same feature, but chooses to not use it and keep the great things away from us. Why?
I think they’ve let themselves done.
when the Tour de France was on, like you said we got to do a challenge which allowed us to select from eight different rides.
Today Vuelta a España Starts and I was hoping that we’d get a similar challenge which would let us ride a lot of the Spanish climbs. Only making two available in September is very poor in my opinion.
Is this calendar accurate? It looks like August if highlighting a couple of Scotland climbs, which makes sense given UCI versus last month’s TdF, but those aren’t included in the (current) master list of portal climbs, and the Strava segment is only showing a women’s leaderboard (no completions) for some reason, can’t seem to see/display male/general.
Yes, it is. Master list of climbs is now updated as well. As for Strava… not sure what you’ve got going on there!
I really hope they change this to give the option of 2 or 3 climbs and change them daily. After having the choice of 8 for a month and being able to do different ones each day, this seems like a massive backwards step.
I think much of the criticism Zwift receives is undeserved. But taking away access to 7 of the 8 portal climbs is a stupid decision, and I think it is only a matter of time before Zwift backtracks and makes a larger selection available. The only question is how long will it take for them to correct course. I think they’ve done a great job lately of listening to their customers, so hopefully they will open the portal rides back up relatively quickly.
It is a bit disappointing the frequency of change is so long. I’ve really enjoyed being able to jump into choosing any of the eight and probably ridden a dozen climbs over the month. That isn’t going to happen when you’re stuck with the same one for two weeks at a time. That’ll get boring real quick 🙁 Oh well, all good things come to an end, I guess.
I understand Zwift’s tendency to restrict ride options in order to force more riders on fewer routes but this is a bit sad. The climb portal was a great thing which I rode a dozen times in the month. I was fun and different and the variety was liberating. Having just one short climb for such a long time is a real missed opportunity and really squelches the feature. Just entering the portal off of a normal ride is something I only did once and did not find very interesting. I always rode the portal as a dedicated ride. If… Read more »
Wish they at least had a choice between a long route and a short route.
Exactly! If I want to train using these climbs, I want to be able to choose whether to do a long FTP session or a VO2max session. I’m fine with the climbs changing less often as long as there is this basic choice. The climb portal is great for practicing pacing so it’s actually nice to be able to come back a few days later and try again.
This is the one I agree with to optimize it a bit. I don’t necessarily need all ten (now) routes available. But I’d like some variety available.
I assume (hope) the original 8 will make it into the rotation since two of them appear to kick off the calendar .. I didn’t finish Puy de Dome or Col d’Aspin and i would like the opportunity. Totally agree with may other comments.. one climb every two weeks is not great. I would like to see at least two climbs per 2 weeks, a cat 2-3 and a cat 1-HC would be nice. I think Zwift’s reasoning is they want to limit the climbs so there are more people per climb to keep their platform’s social aspect..
I did Ventoux then all 8 portal climbs back to back the other morning and it knackered me out, so I’m glad they’ve now only got one available at a time… it’ll stop me being so stupid again! Maybe.
Sure you did.
Pretty sure they can find some middle ground between offering 8 climbs at the same time and offering one climb for two weeks straight.
Why not have 3 options, either short/medium/long or flat/medium/steep at any given time and maybe change all three every 3 days or one per day?
The Climb Portal is a great addition. I also expected a quicker rotation with minimum 2 climbs on offer per day. I hope to get another chance to tackle the legendary Tourmalet in the near future.
I’m with you Carsten. We’ll do it together when it pops up. P
Whoa, this is the first time I am hearing that they are adding Scottish climbs for Worlds. I thought we were getting the Scotland Map and that was it.
I drove the Tourmalet and Platzerwasel in reality. The Zwift-courses do not match the gradients in real world. On the Platzerwasel there is no downhill in the climb and I cannot remember flat meters. The only match is length and absolut climb in both routes.
i remember the days where everyone thought the portal was stupid, and where’s the scenery etc… how times have changed.
Think it’s good that it stays. A bit more variety would be nice. Like 2 climb’s a week or something. On the other side I think it would be cool to have some extra fun climbs in Watopia. Like 3 extra climb islands in front of the coast next to the Volcano. That you have like 3 short climbs or something and the Volcano as cherry on the cake. Put some variety in the climbs and the islands. Good training and fun to do. Like Watopia is.
I have to say Zwift have been really stupid with this. I’m not interested in climbing 7km of 4% – I want a proper climb of 10% – why do I have to wait two weeks+ for that?!?! I also get that there are people who won’t want to use the portal if there is a 10%er and they have to wait two weeks+ for a hill of their liking. Why not give us what did last month …is it so hard for Zwift to give us a choice???
Eric, as Zwift sometimes makes some head scratching decisions (like this one & their race ranking/rating process). Do you think Zwift would be open to having a few people like yourself (that really understand what the community likes) as a sounding board before implementing changes that could ruffle feathers? This type of advisory board could be a real asset to their decision-making process.
This is actually already in place. I’m on a call with Zwift before each update (along with a couple of other prominent “Zwinfluencers”), going over the changes, asking questions, and giving feedback. Zwift has gotten better at hearing our feedback in the last couple years two, because I think they’ve learned that we have a good finger on the pulse of the Zwift community. But still, there are sometimes game changes made that we don’t agree with. Sometimes it’s just due to the logistical challenge of making changes late in the game, other times there are other reasons. Regardless, I’ll… Read more »
So this is all your fault! 😉
All kidding aside, assuming they take some of your (and that of others) feedback into account, that seems like a reasonable process.
Thanks for taking the time to explain and keep up the good work!
Any workaround to access other climbs?
I wasn’t sure about the climb portal feature at first but after riding all of them, I’m do like them & had incorporated them into my routine. However, opening just one climb every 2 weeks will just stifle this new feature. No reason not to offer all or at least half of them at any given time. What happens when there’s 20 portals, we only see them once every 40 weeks. Is there a possibility of a climb portal hack similar to the world hack where just editing the ‘prefs’ file would give you the ability to ride a particular… Read more »
So disappointed that you can’t choose any climb you want now after having access to all of them that you feel like riding at any given time. not sure why they took that option away. Sad.
Is anyone having the issue of not being able to see the road on the climb portal? Happened the last two times I’ve done one….
Are these climb portals for a limited time or will they be on a revolving schedule? I almost never zwift between March and November but would love the opportunity to do these climbs. Alpe deZwift is getting old.
It’s unclear how often each climb in Zwift’s “library” will be featured. All we know is August’s schedule at this time.
If I took the time to view https://zwiftinsider.com/climb-portal/ my question would have been answered. I think I am going to like the climb portal this winter!
Is it possible to draft during the climb portals or is if switched off? Doing my first one, Crow Road on Friday. Any tips on pacing from anyone who’s completed it would be appreciated.
Drafting is enabled.
Is there a short cut to find which Portals you have already ridden? I’ve done 4 of them, but did not note down which ones. Although, I am not going to forget the Tourmalet!
Climb portal has disappeared when I use Apple TV, but it’s there if I use PC. It no longer appears as an option on the home screen and when riding to it in Watopia or France it turns me around before I reach the portal gate. Any other Apple TV users having this problem?
Same problem.
Not able to access the climb portal for some reason. Crow Road should be available but not listed anywhere that I can find. I’ve ridden 3 or 4 of the other climbs already. Just me or is there a new update or something ? I’m using iOS.
After exclusively riding the portal climbs for the past five weeks, I’ve noticed that my overall power profile has improved. This is because I almost never would choose a 15 minute climb like Crow Road on my own. I’d almost always pick the 50+ minute ride up AdZ as my preferred duration. I’ll be curious to see next week how I adapt over 10 days to a climb that splits the difference.
Does anyone know if a climb is logged as complete at the actual summit of the climb or do you have to make the descent and keep riding until the flag on the progress bar? I know it shouldn’t matter but I’m a sucker for an achievement badge!
For the badge, it’s at the top of the climb.
Excellent, thanks Dan Was hoping that’d be the case, as I can’t be bothered doing almost 2 laps of the volcano circuit at the end!
Hey Eric, about the portal climb badge, 10 dan 25 times, we have to do it in single ride to get it or can we ride it in multiple ones and still counted? Thanks
Multiple is fine!
This is the most annoying thing zwift has done and it’s a long list
Is there a way to access a climb of your choice. I went on Zwift today and the climb available was the Tourmolet (spelling?). Now I’d love to give that a go but didn’t have nearly enough time. Can’t we have a choice of climbs (short, medium, long) to pick from. Thanks.
There is not. They just rotate on a set schedule (above).
Thanks Eric for replying. If possible, can you pass to Zwift HQ a request for some choice. I’m sure I am not alone in wanting some. thanks.
Zwift seems to have missed a golden opportunity to bring back the Tourmalet on the portal! The Vuelta is going up it on Friday, but the portal remains on Laguna Negra.
Love doing the portals! One of the best adds to Zwift!!
Today is the 19th but no Ordin 😭😭😭
Turns out Zwift’s published schedule was incorrect. They tell me Coll d’Ordino will start tomorrow (the 20th) so I just updated it above.
Is that a climb to the Hollywood Sign in the screenshots? 🤔
It does exist in game, but Zwift has yet to schedule it!
Good that there will be more Portal options in October. Would be nice though if there was a way that Zwift recorded which climbs you have done, as with the routes, so that you can easily check if it is one you have already done or not – hard to remember all the Cols and Cotes.
Great, two portals a day now
I feel like they listened to what feedback they were given (strange, but welcome). Out of gratitude, I’m going to make a point of riding the Madone portal at least 15x this month while it’s available, since I DID say I wanted to. be able to choose between an hour-long climb and the short-ish thirty minute offerings that were all they had last month. My power for 25 minutes improved in September, but I’m missing the long climbs. Thanks to Zwift for listening.
Will there be 2 climb portal entrances for both climbs in Watopia? Starting 3 October 2 climbs…
grtz
Tried to do the col de la madone this morning … and i just kept going round the volcano circuit … very disappointing …
Oh, same here! I thought it was just a one time bug for me (but I didn’t check)!
Anyone try climb portal today? Was it working. I tried, selected climb portal from menu screen but when riding turn option wasn’t there. Even tried selecting a couple of different routes and riding to portal and there was also no option to select turn. Also no climb portal route option on the Watopia route list.
Wondering if zwift have managed to introduce a bug as part of the climb of the month schedule which kicked off today.
Yup … me too … they b0rk3d it… *sigh*
the only Climb Portal option in Watopia for me is the Coll d’Ordino. I see no option for Madone anywhere. There are no Strava segment times for the Madone Watopia climb as of 12:23 CDT.
Guessing the schedule has changed? No Madone today, just the same Ordino in the Watopia climb portal. No Strava segment times for the Madone Watopia climb.
I’m checking with Zwift to see what the plan is… will report back. Madone definitely isn’t enabled as the “climb of the month” currently… but Coll d’Ordino is reachable in both Watopia and France.
It was not working at all. At least 2 hours ago. Portal was grey, you couldnt enter it. It was not even marked on route selection (volcano sth route).
Updated the schedule just now – Zwift informed me that development was delayed for the “Climb of the Month” and it’s now launching on October 16.
Thanks for looking into this! Really appreciate it. Looking forward to the Madone on the 16th 🙂
AKA: They b0rk3d it 🤣
Where is the Madone? Only Ordino today