Hiking Speed and Trail Steepness
Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 5:30 pm
For anyone interested in a little GPS analysis, I did a little study on the relationship between trail steepness and hiking speed.
Climbing, hiking, mountaineering forum
https://www.summitpost.org/phpBB3/
https://www.summitpost.org/phpBB3/hiking-speed-and-trail-steepness-t51977.html
Ze wrote:For anyone interested in a little GPS analysis, I did a little study on the relationship between trail steepness and hiking speed.
ksolem wrote:A few years ago I started wearing a heart rate monitor on these approaches out of curiousity. I learned quickly that I was over exerting on the uphills and slacking on the more level terrain. Balancing this out improved my overall speed in most cases and especially on longer hikes.
My downhill speed is pretty much determined by the ruggedness of the terrain. For example I will move much more quickly up class III than down it.
cb294 wrote:Nice, but to believe your conclusions (i.e, that they are significantly more precise than the well known rules of thumb) I would like to see some measurement of energy expenditure per time, e.g. heart rate, to show that that is really constant during the measurement. From my own experience I would suspect that for most people power output changes with terrain angle, i.e. one tends to exert oneself more on steeper terrain if not actively pacing oneself using a heart monitor.
Anyway, apologies for being too critical, I should be trying to make a scientific paper referee proof rather than doing SP research. So, back to work....
Day Hiker wrote:Really cool plots and analysis!
One more-complicated part is that now there is big wind friction to affect the results. For example, taking two data points on exactly the same percent grade, a different wind direction or speed will significantly affect the biker's speed. Also, there is the kinetic-energy factor that one does not really get with hiking. So on a bike, your speed on a level grade (for example) immediately following a big downhill is going to be much faster than that on a level grade elsewhere.
Anyway, for the hiking analysis, I wonder if some would argue that it makes a difference if you're ascending and the hill is stationary, or if you're stationary and the hill is descending! http://www.summitpost.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=51786&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30
Day Hiker wrote:Anyway, for the hiking analysis, I wonder if some would argue that it makes a difference if you're ascending and the hill is stationary, or if you're stationary and the hill is descending! http://www.summitpost.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=51786&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30
MoapaPk wrote:Day Hiker wrote:Anyway, for the hiking analysis, I wonder if some would argue that it makes a difference if you're ascending and the hill is stationary, or if you're stationary and the hill is descending! http://www.summitpost.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=51786&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30
As long as the hill is not accelerating, the results should be the same. You can verify this by walking up and down a ramp in an elevator, while carrying an accelerometer.
FortMental wrote:use the basic work equations and you'll see why, as well (at least for the uphill).
FortMental wrote:This is pretty-looking data, but all you can say with it is: As angle increases/decreases, I slow down; which is a perfectly reasonable conclusion, given the data. Your "isoenergy" curve and conclusion is baloney. Use a heart rate monitor and you'll see why ... use the basic work equations and you'll see why, as well (at least for the uphill). Incidentally, what is the limiting factor that makes the left side look like the right side?
Ze wrote:Limiting factor on the downhill? I dunno, very interesting stuff to ponder, huh? Something to do with impact generation, balance control, and eccentric muscle contraction I suppose...
graham wrote:Interesting symmetry to the Iron Mtn graph.
The right side (uphill) of the graph make perfect sense to me (steeper = slower), but I’m surprised that you don’t have more scatter on the left side (downhill).
I know Iron Mtn has some steep and rugged downhill sections (maybe class 2) that require some slow and careful foot work. But there are also clean downhill sections that you can really motor down and would expect to be at least as fast as on level terrain; hence a lot more variability to the left side of the graph (downhill). Am I missing something?
Do you have a sore knee, ankle, etc. that slows you down on the descents?