Assuming that the only difference between two hikes is distance, total ascent, and total descent, is there a way to compare how strenuous they are. Assuming all else is the same (load, weather, temperature, altitude, both on trail, etc), which is the more strenuous hike. – Bob

 

When I was trip planner / advisor for an adventure group I used the following methods (I also found much of the method useful to determine which direction to hike on loop hikes):
Load the trail into a topo application and observe the trail’s profile. Calculate the elevation gained and lost for the hike (most do this automatically), take the grade into account and then the additional variables.

For a typical mild day hike on a bike path you might encounter 500-1,000 feet of elevation change once you count all the uphills and downhills and a 3-4% grade for relatively even and easy terrain.

For determining direction or travel during the planning stage, look for steep uphills or downhills and determine your groups abilities as well as where it will fall in timing. Some people with knee problems have major issues doing down steep slopes, others find the uphills killer (usually in mixed groups that have people packing heavier weights). Also, sometimes it’s far wiser to handle a large climb early on on a multi-day and end with a relatively easy route after that.

The easiest way of telling the steepness of a hike is it’s grade, again the software can usually do this for you. (Grade = elevation/distance x 100) To give a point of reference on grade: A typical road is generally less than 6%. Between 6% and 8% it’s usually signed in the US, if the hill is of any significant length, to warn trucks. 8% to about 11% is extremely rare on anything except mountain switch backs.

In addition, calculate things such as soil type (sandy and loose stuff makes it harder) as well as elevation, weather, water availability and other terrain important issues. Anything above 8,000 feet in elevation is going to be significantly harder on a lowlander even if it’s a completely flat trail.

As an example, lets take a hike to Crystal lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. It’s a typical out and back but for the sake of calculation let’s just figure it going one way. (all numbers from Delorme Topo USA and may be rounded a bit)
Start Elevation: 8,600 ft
End Elevation: 10,300 ft
Distance: 7.3 miles (38,544 feet)
Climb Elevation: 3,572 ft
Desc Elevation: 616 ft
Average Grade as 11%
From looking at the above, you can see that it doesn’t have much of any downs hill, but is instead an uphill trudge most of the way. With those conditions I’d suggest only fit hikers attempt the trail, especially due to the higher elevation so it would receive a rating of moderate/strenuous. If however you could start at the finish and just walk it one way, it’d be a steady sloped downhill hike, making it a fairly easy adventure as long as no one had problems going down hills.

Now on the other hand, if we go to the trail to the south the Beaver Mountain Trail (a loop trail) has the following stats:
Start/End Elevation: 8,900 ft
Distance: 6.8 Miles
Climb/Desc Elevation: 1,347 ft
Max Elevation: 9,247 ft
Min Elevation: 8,434 ft
Average Grade: 9%

Overall, this trail has far less elevation change. At 1,347 ft climb/desc elevation and average grade of 9% that’ll put it in the range of yes there are some up and down hills to deal with, but they are less steep and it’s overall lower max altitude combine to make it a milder trip than Crystal Lake. It also has about as much uphill as downhill as compared to a solid uphill slog. However, with a peak elevation of over 9,000 ft elevation acclimation for a few days before starting is recommended to help reduce the affects of altitude.

For those wanting an example a little more typical of most of the US, take the Paddy Creek Wilderness Trail in Missouri. It is again a loop so obviously it will have the same elevation for start and finish.
Start/End Elevation: 1,255 ft
Distance: 14.5 Miles
Climb/Desc Elevation: 2,300 ft
Max Elevation: 1,290 ft
Min Elevation: 889 ft
Average Grade: 6%
So here we’ve got a longer trail, so the climb / desc elevations will be larger numbers. But, take a glance at the 6% grade, so you know that overall, the hills are mild. But, take a close look at your min and max elevation, they are only 400ft different. Basically, to get that much climb and desc without much change in overall elevation you are currently looking at a very “lumpy” trail, so there will be almost no flat spots but instead it’s up/down/up the whole trail. On the plus side, the low altitude and relatively mild terrain makes that something I’d put on the easy side of moderate for a typical hiker or easy for a conditioned hiker. If it wasn’t for the constant ups and downs it’d easily be rated an “easy”.

Tell me what you think, does random hiking, backpacking and climbing posts belong on our slackline blog? joe@slacklineexpress.com

Balance In Life

Joe Kuster

Dear Joe,

I recently purchased the Primo 50 slackline kit. I am enjoying it and feel I have gotten pretty good. I would like to get a slackline of 120 feet. I already have the kit and wouldn’t know how to set myself up with a 120 foot line. I saw that you can buy that length but wouldn’t know what else I would need to be able to slackline that length.

Could I use the same systems and attach the 120 foot line to a tree-sling and use the same tensioning system? Would I need something else to help attach my webbing to an anchor?

I would also like to know how I could make a free standing slackline, so that I wouldn’t have to use tree as anchors. I want this so that I can slackline in any backyard.

Thank you in advance for taking your time to read this email.
Sincerely,
Tyler B.

Tyler,

Sure, we can certainly help you out. The Primo 50 can be upgraded a couple ways. We usually only recommend increasing it up to around 100 feet due to the number of resets the system would require at that length (it works for even longer spans, but it’s very tedious).

All you need to do the swap is the sewn mainline, but you will likely have to cut the keeper strap that keeps the main line in place on the tree sling when the system is not in use. This is only a convenience part of the kit, not load bearing in any way. If however you want to have the keeper strap in place, it is usually best to buy a new tree sling with the mainline so we can sew it all together for you and mail it.

If on the other hand, you are certain you need 100ft + we recommend looking into alternative tensioning methods, such as pulleys or industrial come-along’s. We are still negotiating an economical supplier for both at the moment, the best I have is a slightly bulky but powerful solution of a webbing based come along that has approximately 26:1 mechanical advantage that can easily be adapted to our systems and removed once the light is tight. It weights around 10 lbs but can tighten 200ft lines, cost would be approximately $63. Each reset with it pulls in a full 12 feet of webbing, so resets would be very seldomly needed. I am hoping to negotiate it’s price down somewhat, but that’s what we currently have available and it is a LOT cheaper than the pulleys necessary to pull tight a line that long.

For the free standing slacklines, take a look at the attached photos as examples of an A-frame. I don’t have sufficient trees at my house either so that’s our solution and we’ve been very happy with them. If you’ve got lots of tools and are fairly handy you can make your own, or we hope to have them in stock in a few weeks for approximately $50 each (they are way more labor than we initially anticipated).

See our setup video for a-frames at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JAQTK4gKOc it’ll give you a great breakdown on what is required to setup a slackline without trees.

Joe Kuster

Balance In Life