Why is this complicated? "Maximum amount of altitude gain" means how many feet you went up in a day.....it could be in a straight shot, or over multiple hills or mountains (or up stairs), you just count each foot you go up, whatever else you do (go down, eat lunch, listen to your ipod),...is immaterial.

I did 33,000' gain in 38 hours at Hardrock last year... that's my record for 'one push'. For a 24 hour period, I think my max is about 25,000' of gain.

Chris wrote:I did 33,000' gain in 38 hours at Hardrock last year... that's my record for 'one push'. For a 24 hour period, I think my max is about 25,000' of gain.

yeah... I was going to say many 100 mile ultras have 20K+ of elevation gain, and about 20% of finishers do it in under 24 hours.

UTMB has 9400M of elevation gain and winners do it in 20hours
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-Trail_du_Mont-Blanc
They do have aid stations so they don't have to carry much gear.

For me, I did 7800ft at a 50 mile race, and 7000ft (I guess) when I did the Rae Lakes loop in a day last year.