the.com/switchback
the road that admits the mountain won by zigzagging up instead of charging it.
means A sharp, hairpin bend in a road, trail, or railway that doubles back on itself to climb or descend a steep slope at a manageable gradient.
from A plain English compound of "switch" and "back" — and the "switch" here is the railroad sense, the movable rail that throws a train from one track onto another. In 19th-century American mountain railroading, a switchback was a section where a train ran up a slope, the switch was thrown, and it then reversed back up the next incline, climbing in a zigzag rather than tackling the grade head-on. The word soon spread from rails to mountain roads and footpaths that pull the same trick.
- origin
- Named for railroads reversing direction to climb grades
- why exist
- Trades distance for a gentler, survivable slope
- famous run
- Lombard Street packs eight into one block
- hairpin kin
- A tighter switchback bending nearly 180 degrees
- cyclist enemy
- Stelvio Pass stacks 48 in a row
million dollar highway — us route 550 between silverton and ouray, colorado with 11 hairpin switchbacks over 23.5 miles
stelvio pass — italian alps mountain pass with 48 hairpin switchbacks at 9,045 feet elevation
trollstigen — norwegian mountain road with 11 hairpin switchbacks in rauma municipality, møre og romsdal