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Re: Great Elevation Gains

PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 2:39 am
by goldenhopper
lefty wrote:Telescope Peak from Shorty's well is about 11,300'.
Mt. San Jacinto via skyline trail is about 10,300'.


Being a So Cal guy those were the first two I thought of as well. I can't imagine Telescope would be any fun considering the lack of water.

Re: Great Elevation Gains

PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 2:46 am
by goldenhopper
Marmaduke wrote:MY thinking was where the trailhead starts, the start of the climb. I know some peaks do not have a true trailhead at the start, so then where the road ends and the wilderness begins. Or like Denali, from the Kahiltna Glacier.



On that note you could get 10,000+ in short distance out of any 14'er on the east side (Sierra) by starting at the nearest TH and you don't have to go all the way to AK. :wink:

Re: Great Elevation Gains

PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 2:53 am
by lefty
goldenhopper wrote:
Marmaduke wrote:MY thinking was where the trailhead starts, the start of the climb. I know some peaks do not have a true trailhead at the start, so then where the road ends and the wilderness begins. Or like Denali, from the Kahiltna Glacier.



On that note you could get 10,000+ in short distance out of any 14'er on the east side (Sierra) by starting at the nearest TH and you don't have to go all the way to AK. :wink:


Actually I think all of the standard 14er trailheads in the eastern Sierra start at least at 5,000 feet (Split might be the lowest or perhaps Georges Creek) so they do not involve 10K gains. I've heard of people dayhiking Whitney from Lone Pine which would probably be over 10K.

Re: Great Elevation Gains

PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 4:25 am
by AlexeyD
Denali from Wonder Lake is over 18000 feet. In the lower 48, Mt. Rainier probably has the biggest vertical rise if you count from the valley floor - over 12000 feet. Contenders for largest uninterrupted drops - the Wickersham Wall on Denali and Rupal Face on Nanga Parbat, both over 14000 feet.

Re: Great Elevation Gains

PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 6:53 am
by Day Hiker
lefty wrote:I've heard of people dayhiking Whitney from Lone Pine which would probably be over 10K.

Yes, 10800, of which the bottom 4600 I can only imagine would be an incredibly boring ~12 miles.

Re: Great Elevation Gains

PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 7:19 am
by Damien Gildea
AlexeyD wrote: ... Rupal Face on Nanga Parbat, both over 14000 feet.


West face of Dhaulagiri is c.4600m (15,090ft) from summit down to where you leave the river to start walking up. Face is steeper and rockier than Nanga Parbat.
North face of Namche Barwa is c.5200m (17,175ft) from summit down to where you leave the river to start walking up. Face is unclimbed.

Re: Great Elevation Gains

PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 8:08 am
by Marmaduke
Damien Gildea wrote:
AlexeyD wrote: ... Rupal Face on Nanga Parbat, both over 14000 feet.


West face of Dhaulagiri is c.4600m (15,090ft) from summit down to where you leave the river to start walking up. Face is steeper and rockier than Nanga Parbat.
North face of Namche Barwa is c.5200m (17,175ft) from summit down to where you leave the river to start walking up. Face is unclimbed.


Great stuff! Wow, has anyone attempted the face of Namche Barwa?

Re: Great Elevation Gains

PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 8:55 am
by Damien Gildea
No. The mountain has only had one ascent, from the SW. For many years it was the world's highest unclimbed mountain, and was not climbed until 1993, by Japanese. They paid a fortune for permission, the expedition was rumoured to cost around $1M, and they failed the first time, then went back in '93. I have the Chinese map of the area and it actually claims that the drop north down to the river surface is 5332m.

Re: Great Elevation Gains

PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 9:09 am
by Marmaduke
Damien Gildea wrote:No. The mountain has only had one ascent, from the SW. For many years it was the world's highest unclimbed mountain, and was not climbed until 1993, by Japanese. They paid a fortune for permission, the expedition was rumoured to cost around $1M, and they failed the first time, then went back in '93. I have the Chinese map of the area and it actually claims that the drop north down to the river surface is 5332m.


I finished a book awhile back and the main part of the book was about another mountain. But I think some Americans made an attempt on that peak? They didn't have permits to climb but could survey, but they made it to like 25,000 ft, one was a female? Maybe a different peak.

Re: Great Elevation Gains

PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 9:57 am
by Damien Gildea
Don't know, there's quite a few mountains in that area :shock:

Chouinard, Tompkins and others did (I think, maybe illegally?) attempt Gangkar Punzum in Bhutan quite a few years ago, maybe the mid-80s? It is currently the highest unclimbed mountain in the world. It was recounted in a book somewhere I've seen.

Otherwise the NB area is pretty hard to get into, though a road runs along the river on the northern side, and there are villages on the southern side. Very few foreigners have been off the road there. Too much military, jungle, and rain.

Re: Great Elevation Gains

PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 1:43 pm
by Bruno
Damien Gildea wrote:No. The mountain has only had one ascent, from the SW. For many years it was the world's highest unclimbed mountain, and was not climbed until 1993, by Japanese. They paid a fortune for permission, the expedition was rumoured to cost around $1M, and they failed the first time, then went back in '93. I have the Chinese map of the area and it actually claims that the drop north down to the river surface is 5332m.


Actually, I think it was first climbed in 1992 and not 1993, as recorded in Jurgalski's lists at 8000ers.com

Anyway, Namcha Barwa is definitely a great mountain, and the drop between Namcha Barwa and Gyala Pelri makes it the deepest caynon on earth.

Re: Great Elevation Gains

PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 2:51 pm
by Sierra Ledge Rat
Mount Rainier is over 12,000 feet from trailhead to summit

Re: Great Elevation Gains

PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 3:00 pm
by Ski Mountaineer
For the outside-US mountains, I throw in Rakaposhi (7788m), with almost 6000m bottom to top. Not sure if one starts hiking from the valley though.

One a side note: Denalis Wickersham wall is the longest ski run in the world done in one go, at 4300m (JN.Urban and N. Bonhomme). A buddy of mine (R.Bougie) and his partners (P. Inglis, M. Waring) skied most of St Elias last summer, to about 450m above Icy Bay.

Re: Great Elevation Gains

PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 4:36 pm
by dskoon
Sierra Ledge Rat wrote:Mount Rainier is over 12,000 feet from trailhead to summit


Which trailhead would that be?

Re: Great Elevation Gains

PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 5:27 pm
by DanTheMan
Topologically there should be someway to measure elevation gain. Just like a watershed divides lakes and drainage systems, there should be a similar trough or valley line that divides mountain ranges. If you look out radially from a mountain peak, there should be at some point a closed loop encircling the mountain which is the bottom of a valley (not a real "valley", but a place where the slope goes up on either sides). The only exception of course is if you hit the ocean, in which case, the ocean shore should define the boundary. The distance from the lowest point on that loop to the summit should be the maximum elevation gain.