[pct-l] Altitude gain/loss for the PCT, and Oregon really is flat!

[ukstoveman at hotmail.com (David Toms)]

Being a (bit of a) geek I logged the total altitude gain/loss for the PCT 
whilst thru-hiking this year.  The oft-quoted figure of around 360,000 ft is 
a significant underestimate, based (I believe) on simply using the altitude 
change between points in the databook. So if you want to impress your 
friends and terrify your enemies with your amazing hiking abilities, the 
actual figure is 447,000 ft.

I've also calculated the altitude gain/mile for each of the three states.  
California came in at 170ft/mile, Oregon a mere 130ft/mile and Washington a 
whopping 190ft/mile.

Geeky details:
This includes walking from Big Bear City back up Van Dusen Canyon road, as 
well as side trips to Elk Lake, and Shelter Cove, and doing the Bucks Lake 
alternate, Eagle creek alternate, Ramona & paradise alternates out of 
Timberline. We did the hiker re-route around Glacier peak which added a few 
feet to the route (and was somewhat hillier than the USFS map suggested, I 
think they were 1000ft under). Stripping all these out would remove around 
7,000ft, giving 440,000 ft. Note also that we did all the mountain ranges; 
if you skipped Baden Powell & Fuller Ridge then your number will be lower.

I haven't adjusted the number for intraday barometric pressure changes as 
I've assumed these will cancel over the course of the 150 days of hiking.  
Overnight pressure changes are excluded as we turned our logbooks off 
overnight.

We used Suunto altimeters - an Advizor (me) and a Metron (Michele), set to 
log altitude changes at 1-minute intervals.

If anybody wants the spreadsheet of altitude change each day and associated 
milepoints I'm happy to send it through. You have to publically admit to 
being a supergeek first.

Dave

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