For a specific example, my most recent hike on the Bay Area Ridge Trail was 11.6 miles with 2250 feet of elevation gain. According to the calculator, if you can run 9:00 per mile on flat ground, or 36 minutes for four miles, adding 500 feet of elevation gain in that same distance will slow you down to 10:23 per mile, adding a total of 5.5 minutes. If starting at an elevation of 1,000 feet (300 m), one gains 4,250 feet (1,300 m) on the ascent (not 4000 feet, because 250 feet is lost and then has to be "regained"). "Climb High and sleep low." In our example, the hike is 10 miles round trip. Calculating grade and steepness change in feet are good for the calculation of inclined planes in mountain areas. Take your 3,000 feet of gain and divide that by 5. Sounds like "something" to me! Again, this desaturation of oxygen from the blood and brain is what kicks on the adaptive response in the body, and by incrementally introducing the stimulus, users at sea-level can arrive at real altitude with little to no ill-effects. Additionally, this section of the trail on the overall ascent that goes down 250 feet subsequently goes up on the descent, so it is counted as another gain in elevation. How to Find Grade of an Elevation. In my opinion the primary factor that affects effort is the amount of elevation gain. This is the maxim used by climbers. Why didn’t we divvy that up by 10 miles? If you go above 10,000 feet (3,048 meters), only increase your altitude by 1,000 feet (305 meters) per day and for every 3,000 feet (915 meters) of elevation gained, take a rest day. But through it all it's clustered around that 1000ft gain = 1 mile flat and that's good enough for me. The empirical correction I use is 1 mile per 1000 feet of elevation gain. Therefore the hiking effort was 11.6 + 2.3, or 13.9 miles. Grade is expressed as rise/run, so if the rise is 25 and the run is 80 the grade is 25/80. Every 100 feet of elevation gain slows you 6.6% of your average one mile pace (2% grade/mile). The rule of thumb out there for elevation gain is that 1000 ft gained vertically is roughly equivalent to 1 mile horizontally. The number of miles in a hike goes hand in hand with the amount of elevation gain. This is an ideal ratio that makes sure the elevation gain is in line with other parameters. You should come up with 600 feet of elevation gain per mile. Use the below grade percent incline and downgrade calculator to estimate the actual vertical distance change in feet if you know the grade percentage value and the horizontal distance. I've seen research out there that backs it up with a few caveats, such as sex, body type, load, terrain, etc. A good elevation gain that describes an acceptable route has a climbing of 100 feet per mile or 1000 feet every 10 miles. Example: A race that climbs 300 feet would slow an 8 … He sought trails that averaged at least 1,000 feet in elevation gain per mile. Grasping the concept of elevation gain and the ratio of climbs to flat terrain will help you both physically and mentally prepare for a day in the mountains. Our chart will help you find the oxygen levels by elevation for many common altitudes. This can … Grade can be found by measuring the horizontal length of an elevation, the run, and the vertical height of the elevation, the rise. The generally agreed upon ratio used to describe a route with a substantial amount of climbing is 100 feet per mile or 1,000 feet for every 10 miles. 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