Summits
A ruling grade is often found at a long climb up to a summit. Ideally, the cutting at the summit should be as deep as possible, such as at Shap, as this helps reduce the amount of climb, and the steepness of the gradient. Alternately, a summit tunnel should be provided, such as at Ardglen.
Read more about this topic: Ruling Gradient
Famous quotes containing the word summits:
“And now it is once more the tidal wave
That when it was swept by, leaves summits stained.
Oh, blood will out. It cannot be contained.”
—Robert Frost (18741963)
“To be seventy years old is like climbing the Alps. You reach a snow-crowned summit, and see behind you the deep valley stretching miles and miles away, and before you other summits higher and whiter, which you may have strength to climb, or may not. Then you sit down and meditate and wonder which it will be.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (18071882)
“There are in me, in literary terms, two distinct characters: one who is taken with roaring, with lyricism, with soaring aloft, with all the sonorities of phrase and summits of thought; and the other who digs and scratches for truth all he can, who is as interested in the little facts as the big ones, who would like to make you feel materially the things he reproduces.”
—Gustave Flaubert (18211880)