Oh dear! This one’s going to hurt. On paper it just looks like the Alaska Highway shuffles its way along the eastern shore of Teslin Lake, but zoom into the map and nothing could be further from the truth. The ‘problem’ is that whereas the road attempts to maintain a straightish course, the lakeside is way more jagged and that results in the road having negotiate its way up and down as it arrives at each of the slopes that run down to the waterside. The stage boasts four major climbs and lots of little ones within those four: in other words, the stage is big lumpy and little lumpy.
The rollout is downhill to cross a stream that flows into the lake at one mile. Then the road climbs for three miles simply because it remains straight while the waterline doesn’t. Over the top, the road descends and crosses another stream at six miles and that kickstarts the biggest, longest climb of the stage: four miles to the highest elevation of the stage at ten miles, and three hundred feet of climbing thrown in for good measure. Over the top of that, there’s an even steeper descent to guess what? A stream that flows into the lake!
By now Route 1’s at eleven miles and ready to start the third climb. It’s a short punchy, lumpy affair that tops out at twelve miles before dropping back down to the lake, and not one but two water crossings either side of Teslin Lake Territorial Park. The final climb begins immediately after the park and it’s the result of the road going over the headland that juts out into the lake north west of Teslin itself: once over the top, the run down into Teslin is five miles long and as descents go, quite lumpy. The finish of the stage is next to the picturesque Teslin Airport right on the edge of the lake.
Distance: 21 miles / 34 kilometres
Distance: 21 miles / 34 kilometres
Ascent: 879 feet / 268 metres
RGT Magic Road: TNIjCYFXXj9T
Max elevation: 2423 ft
Min elevation: 2155 ft
Total climbing: 881 ft
Total descent: -918 ft
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