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Some of the (very nice) featured pages on SP right now reminded me: why do North American trail signs show distance while signs in the Alps show time?

For example, one of the signs shown on the Saalfeldener Höhenweg page says that a destination is "2 hours" away.

Now, I know how fast I travel, so the North American signs work for me. But I don't know how fast an Austrian sign-poster travels. (I've learned that they travel slower than me, but by variable amounts.)

Plus, North American mileage signs tell me how far I've hiked by the end of the day. My watch tells me how long I've hiked. The Alpine signs don't tell me anything.

Am I missing some advantage of the Alpine system here?

Arthur Digbee wrote:Some of the (very nice) featured pages on SP right now reminded me: why do North American trail signs show distance while signs in the Alps show time?
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Am I missing some advantage of the Alpine system here?

I can't imagine giving time-- it depends so heavily on peoples' fitness. Give them the miles (and elevation gain) and let the individual figure it out.

Had the same thing in Blue Mountains NP in Australia. After 1 day of hiking I knew it would take me 2/3 of the time any route suggested.

In my experience in the French Alps the indicated time is correct for guides and/or very fit people without a heavy pack.

If a sign says 2 hours, it takes me 2 h 45, if it says 3 h 15, it's at least 4 h for me etc.

Then again, I look at the elevation and not so much at the distance when estimating my needed time...so pure distance isn't very useful either.

In the Canadian Rockies, we have several guide books, each for its own genre of sport. Some give time, some give distance. Although each author is consistent, there's no uniformity from book to book.

As for me, none of the guidelines work well, so I make my own guesses. I tell my wife that I'll be home for supper "some time this evening" and that's the best I can do.

So what you have to do, is get used to the guide-book figures, and make your own estimate.

Arthur Digbee wrote:Some of the (very nice) featured pages on SP right now reminded me: why do North American trail signs show distance while signs in the Alps show time?

In Europe, people are fit. People walk at a predictable pace.

In America, everyone is fat. No telling how long it will take someone to walk 2 miles.

For hiking, most people can make a reliable estimate based on their own abilities and pack weight, if they know both distance and elevation gain, so I try to include both on my pages. In the White Mountains at least there's a convention of "book time" where 1 mile OR 1000 ft elevation gain = 1/2 hour, which works out pretty well either for not-so-fit hikers, or for heavy packs and/or snowshoe travel. (It's additive: 2 miles with 1000 ft elevation gain totals an hour and a half "book time.")

On technical terrain, a great deal depends on facility with tasks such as creating an anchor or switching leads, as well as basic ability to move both swiftly and with due caution. This gully, less than 800ft tall, took me at least two hours to climb because it was extremely loose and I had to test every hand/foot placement twice.