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Re: Maximum amount of altitude gain in 1 day

PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2011 4:47 am
by dskoon
For me, I guess the biggest one day push would have to be Mt. Adams, where I did approx. 6,600+ ft. in 5.7mi. one way. So, 13,000' and eleven and a half mi. RT. Good, long day.

Re: Maximum amount of altitude gain in 1 day

PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2011 9:22 am
by Lodewijk
Back when I was about 18 i climbed Pizzo di Claro from the Leventina Vally (Zwitzerland),
which comes down to a 2500m vertical gain and a 2500 vertical meter descent.
So a total of 5000 meters in one day.
But I could hardly walk the next day.....and the day after that :-)

Re: Maximum amount of altitude gain in 1 day

PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2011 4:37 pm
by CBakwin
I have done 8,500' to 9,000' vertical in a day numerous times, it seems to be my wall. I suppose I could do more, but it would cost me.

Re: Maximum amount of altitude gain in 1 day

PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2011 4:46 pm
by MoapaPk
Whoa, we are now adding descent to gain?

Re: Maximum amount of altitude gain in 1 day

PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2011 6:00 pm
by visentin
MoapaPk wrote:Whoa, we are now adding descent to gain?


Imho since we almost always get back to the starting point, adding the descent is nonsense. mentioning the descended amount is only worth if the destination is different than the start.

Re: Maximum amount of altitude gain in 1 day

PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2011 6:31 pm
by dskoon
visentin wrote:
MoapaPk wrote:Whoa, we are now adding descent to gain?


Imho since we almost always get back to the starting point, adding the descent is nonsense. mentioning the descended amount is only worth if the destination is different than the start.


I only mentioned mine as RT, because I saw others mention it as well. You guys are right though; a bit redundant. The title of the post is "altitude gain."

Re: Maximum amount of altitude gain in 1 day

PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2011 9:32 pm
by Daria
Diego Sahagún wrote:
WouterB wrote:
Diego Sahagún wrote:For me:

Gain = SUM of all slopes in ascent

Total descended = SUM of all slopes in descent

I would agree with that if it wasn't so hard to measure ;)

Take an altimeter or GPS with you


I use a Garmin 60CSx GPS, and I don't know why but they usually overestimate elevation gain. What I usually do is take the recorded gain and subtract 1,000-2,000 ft. to get a more accurate estimate, which can be confirmed via TOPO maping software.

Re: Maximum amount of altitude gain in 1 day

PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2011 9:34 pm
by Daria
MoapaPk wrote:
Buz Groshong wrote:I prefer net gain, but then net gain is high point minus low point not finish minus start. Total gain is for type A freaks.


Do you try ridge traverses or multi-summit days? It's good to estimate accumulated gain beforehand, so you won't get pooped out and surprised on the way. and will pace properly. I went over 2 DPS peaks last Sunday; Palmer and Grapevine. By the net method, that would be 2000'. The true accumulated gain is about 6500'. Each summit requires multiple ups and downs.

For this hike, the net is about 1300'. The accumulated is over 7000'.


ha, I was planning to do Palmer (from the Death Valley side) this past Sunday -7,000 ft. of gain. But was too tired after the 15 hour canyon I did on Saturday.

Re: Maximum amount of altitude gain in 1 day

PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2011 9:57 pm
by Daria
phydeux wrote:The most I can remember doing in a single day with a full backpack was the Mt. Whitney trail (California, Sierra Nevada Mtns), from the 8500 ft trailhead to the 14500 ft Mt. Whitney summit where we spent the night.


I think the best way to approach training is just by going out there and start doing elevation gains, and increasing the amount every week. I noticed about myself, is that I can go forever downhill with very little food or water, but start having considerable difficulty going uphill if I don't eat enough. Regular snacking is important to maintain energy levels which is tricky because at high altitude I tend to lose my appetite and go through long periods of deprivation as a result. While a lot of it is training, the majority of it is psychological and the ability to push yourself (wanting to go harder and farther), as the body is capable of much more than we think. What I've done in the past is use a 50 lbs. weighted vest (can be adjusted to lesser weight) to go uphill when training. I think running also has its benefits for improving speed/endurance.

Also, by "most amount of elevation gain in a day"....do you mean most amount of gain, overall, with no pressure to return to starting point? Because if you cut out the time it takes to return to starting point (trailhead), you could just do continuous elevation gain for 20+ hours and accumulate tons of gain that way, but that does not accurately represent real life wilderness circumstances. Another estimate would be most amount of elevation gain, and back to starting point in a day. There is more pressure here (because you can't simply focus on accumulating elevation gain alone). The measure is also limited, because there is only 24 hours in the day, and you are spending a good 1/3 of your time just returning to the starting point (time that could be spend acquiring more gain). Based on this criteria, the most gain I have managed to do is 14,000 ft. of gain (as an extended dayhike linking up two remote peaks (car to car), walking/non running) but it went over the 24 hour mark by 3 hours, so it was still a continuous 27 hour push. Muscle fatigue had set in and I had not eaten enough.

Re: Maximum amount of altitude gain in 1 day

PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2011 11:18 pm
by MoapaPk
Daria wrote:
Diego Sahagún wrote:
WouterB wrote:
Diego Sahagún wrote:For me:

Gain = SUM of all slopes in ascent

Total descended = SUM of all slopes in descent

I would agree with that if it wasn't so hard to measure ;)

Take an altimeter or GPS with you


I use a Garmin 60CSx GPS, and I don't know why but they usually overestimate elevation gain. What I usually do is take the recorded gain and subtract 1,000-2,000 ft. to get a more accurate estimate, which can be confirmed via TOPO maping software.


Good posts, Darija. (Don't let that go to your head! :) ).

The 60csx does overestimate gain whenever you go through canyons or any terrain with poor satellite reception-- even reflections off walls. I also check the track against a mapping program -- however the program uses a coarse digital elevation model, and misses the small ups-and-downs. The elevation gain program on the 60csx must run a filter over the spectrum to cut out spikes from random variation; it does this with varied success. Since the elevation gain is available only on units with barometric altimeters, I assume the gain is calculated from the barometer; if you get a poor calibration when you start out, or a weather system passes through, all bets are off.

Re: Maximum amount of altitude gain in 1 day

PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2011 1:05 am
by Princess Buttercup
I climbed all 400 steps to the top of Moro Rock this past Sunday.


It was epic.

Re: Maximum amount of altitude gain in 1 day

PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2011 4:51 am
by MoapaPk
MooseTracks wrote:I climbed all 400 steps to the top of Moro Rock this past Sunday.
It was epic.


I did that 3 times with my nephews in June 2001! They were little kids, but they did kiddie track and field, and they got bored because their parents were taking so long. At one point, a woman whom we'd passed (3 times up and 3 times down) grabbed my sleeve and said, "please stop making fun of us."

Re: Maximum amount of altitude gain in 1 day

PostPosted: Thu May 05, 2011 11:35 pm
by MoapaPk
sjarelkwint wrote:lost ten minutes when some fat people got lost in the fog ...


Very insensitive. You mean GCPs, gravitationally-challenged people.

Re: Maximum amount of altitude gain in 1 day

PostPosted: Fri May 06, 2011 2:33 am
by Princess Buttercup
Image

Re: Maximum amount of altitude gain in 1 day

PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2011 3:49 am
by Mountain Bandit
We climbed from 1900m to 4000m in one day (2100m upwards gain) with full packs (enough gear for 2 weeks and 4 days food) in PNG climbing the Mt Wilhelm Traverse. The best part about this was we started in hot/humid jungle and arrived at camp on icy rocks.

The following day we summited (4510m) and descended back down to 2000m, which is 3000m total gain/loss.

The camp at 4000m was ok (no one was sick) but nearing the summit and half way down my head was pretty sore.

I guess these numbers aren’t as impressive as some on this thread but the fact that we did it hauling huge packs while summiting a 4500m peak brought us to our limits..........