Originally Posted by Weatherby

The annual La Marmotte ride in the French Alps is a lot of climbing, either riding the valley or up a wall.

Steepness and elevation has to factor heavily into the determination of whether a ride is "hilly". Lots of little ups and downs doesn't take much out of you but the total elevation gain can look impressive.

I prefer to take my climbing in one painful dose rather than death by a thousand cuts.