In a characteristic dominant display lending credence to the contention that she is quite possibly the best pure climber of her generation, Illi Gardner added one of North America’s legendary jewels to her heavy QOM crown.
On Saturday, August 16, 2025, Gardner became the fastest woman ever to ascend the Mt. Washington Auto Road on a bike, crossing the line in 0:58:07, a time that placed her sixth overall in the storied race’s 52nd edition.
So the 25-year-old Cardiff, Wales-based visual effects artist packed her bags and flew across the pond to add a few more records to her collection of more than 10,000 Strava climbing QOMs.
Ahead of the race, the multi-time British Hillclimb champion said she was motivated not only by the event’s prestige and reputation, but also by its exclusivity. The Mount Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb is one of the only chances cyclists ever get to ride the mountain, which is otherwise closed to bikes.
Fierce weather levels up the challenge
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Since 1973, a ‘who’s who’ of Tour de France veterans, U.S. national road race champions, and Olympians have measured themselves against the New Hampshire rockpile. The Mt. Washington Auto Road opened in August 1861, over a century before the first official Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb (MWARBH) was held in 1973. Constructed by hand, the road ascends more than 4,000 feet (1219m) in elevation, traversing 7.6 miles from the base, with an average gradient of 11.8%, peaking at 22% in the final switchbacks.
The epic hill climb’s intimidating pitch and iconic stature highlight the competitive climber’s calendar in mid-August each year, and had earned its reputation of the toughest hillclimb in the US, if not the world. However, it’s the unpredictability of the elements that cements its notoriety, making it truly a box-of-chocolates bike race—a rider never knows what they will face from one mile to the next.
In the U.S., April 12 is National Big Wind Day, marking the 1934 afternoon when the Mount Washington Observatory—at 6,288 feet, the highest peak in the Northeast—recorded the world’s fastest non-hurricane wind gust at 231 mph. On February 4, 2023, it logged the coldest wind chill ever in the U.S. at –108.4°F, and by early September 2024 the season’s first measurable snow had already fallen.
Fortunately, there was no snow for the participants of this year’s hillclimb. With a forecast of partly sunny skies, temps in the 50s, and sustained winds between 20 and 35 mph at the summit, Gardner and her fellow bucket-listers had as close to a bluebird day as they could have hoped.
Blast into the record books
(Image credit: Paul Gardner)
When the cannon blast signaling the start of the race for over fifty years echoed through the valley, Gardner shot off the line and into her element, almost effortlessly floating out of sight within the first few switchbacks.
“After an early wake-up and a stressful morning, it was a relief when the cannon went off,” said the seasoned summit sniper. “My legs felt wobbly at the start due to time spent waiting at the start line, coupled with a huge amount of nerves, and I tried not to get too carried away as riders around me sprinted off. We broke apart quickly, and I settled into my rhythm, which was admittedly a lot harder than I knew I could maintain.”
She tore the tape to the thundering applause of the hundreds lining the road, reverberating throughout the White Mountain’s natural amphitheater, breaking Kristen Kulchinsky’s course record of 1:06:08 set last year by over eight minutes. Kulchinsky chose to forego this year’s event, opting instead to race in the $1 Million MyWhoosh Championship.
“The last few hundred metres were totally awesome and the cheers helped me wobble my way around the last infamous bend, which was much steeper than expected; a pretty surreal finale,” she shared with palpable excitement. “The British Hill Climb Championships often attract great roadside support, but experiencing this at the very top of such a long climb was extra special.”
MWARBH organizers wiped the record books clean in 2022 after paving a treacherous stretch of gravel that racers called the “5-mile,” thereby erasing the asterisks of the ‘foregone’ doping era. The tainted French cycling legend Jeannie Longo previously held the all-time women’s record of 0:58:14, set in 2000. Even included these tainted results, Gardner’s ride on Saturday was the faster time ever recorded by a woman.
“It’s harder than almost every climb I’ve done,” said Gardner. “You rarely encounter prolonged double-digit gradients in Europe, and Mount Washington’s pure lack of respite can only be compared to Zoncolan and Angliru. I can only imagine how difficult it would be in poor weather conditions.”
Gardner recently conquered the Hautacam and Luz Ardiden in the Pyrenees, before turning her attention to Spain, where she checked off a few of La Vuelta’s iconic ascents, such as the Angliru.
Gardner’s non-traditional pursuit has also taken her to the hotly contested British Hill Climb circuit, where she has won three consecutive titles since 2022. She added the European Hill Climb Championship during the event’s only edition in 2023 and presently holds the two fastest women’s Everesting times in the world (8:03:29 and 8:33:47).
“It’s hard to compare climbing achievements because there are so many different factors involved, but it’s definitely high up there,” she said. “I was far more pleased with this effort than I was with my European and British hill climb champs rides, and it’s one of the toughest mountain efforts I’ve ever done.”
During her holiday in the U.S., Gardner also set new course records at the Mt. Ascutney and Mt. Kearsarge Hill Climb races, and added QOMs on Roxbury Gap and the notorious ‘America’s steepest paved mile’ of Lincoln Gap during her east coast campaign.
Greatest pure climber of her generation
(Image credit: Illi Gardner)
Born in England, Illi Gardner moved with her family to Palo Alto, California, where she lived until the end of high school. There, she discovered cycling in 2016 with the San Jose Bicycle Club and quickly showed promise, racing major domestic stage races like the Redlands Classic and the Tour of the Gila in 2017 for the Cat 1/2 squad Folsom Bike Trek.
After graduating, Gardner returned to Wales and joined Cardiff Ajax before earning a spot on the British developmental team YRDP in 2018. That year, she delivered a breakout performance, finishing fifth at the Tour de Feminin. Brother Tifosi p/b OnForm recognized her talent and brought her on in 2019. The team attained UCI-level as CAMS-Tifosi in 2020 and later became CAMS-Basso in 2021.
Following the 2021 season, while visiting her family in Nice, Gardner steadily rode up the famed Col de la Madone and stunned herself by setting the QOM on one of the cycling world’s most contested benchmarks. That ride became a crossroads for the promising young talent.
Rather than continuing the traditional road racing path, she made the bold decision to step away and dedicate herself fully to climbing—choosing to head to the quiet serenity of the mountains and pursue her passion on her own terms.
And she hasn’t looked back, quietly amassing a staggering collection of the fastest ascents on almost every historic grand tour climb.
Gardner’s Alpe d’Huez QOM time is more than 3.5 minutes faster than the 2023 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift winner Demi Vollering’s dramatic 2024 stage 8 summit finish. She is second behind the Dutch FDJ-Suez star on the Col du Tourmalet Tour de France Femmes segment and holds the crown on the ascent up the opposite side of the legendary climb from Luz-Saint-Sauveur, which has featured in the men’s Tour almost 90 times.
Gardner also holds the QOM on Mont Ventoux, Col du Galibier, Col de la Madeleine, and Cime de la Bonette, and lost the Col d’Aspin crown to then-world champion Annemiek van Vleuten during stage 7 of the 2023 Tour.
On a trip to Italy, Gardner etched her name deeper into climbing lore by dismantling the Zoncolan by a minute over van Vleuten, and adding the Passo Giau and the Stelvio to her collection of historic and storied Giro d’Italia climbs.
