http://hikingscience.blogspot.com/2011/02/optimal-hiking-grade-50-hike-gps.html

and if you don't care, well, don't read it

Cool stuff. So the max is somewhere just over 40 percent maybe.

Just to check, for your calcs, did you define grade as tangent (true definition of grade) or sine? In other words, did 40% grade correspond to 1961 feet per mile (correct) or 2112 feet per mile?

Going up 2000 feet per mile sure works the legs something fierce. But it also definitely makes the elevation go by more quickly. Much over 2000 feet per mile, and it's probably off-trail and somewhere that I need to start using my hands (class-2 or 3).

Day Hiker wrote:Cool stuff. So the max is somewhere just over 40 percent maybe.

Just to check, for your calcs, did you define grade as tangent (true definition of grade) or sine? In other words, did 40% grade correspond to 1961 feet per mile (correct) or 2112 feet per mile?

Going up 2000 feet per mile sure works the legs something fierce. But it also definitely makes the elevation go by more quickly. Much over 2000 feet per mile, and it's probably off-trail and somewhere that I need to start using my hands (class-2 or 3).

True definition.

Yeah basically its near that point that you probably have to start using hands and slowing down a little bit. There's a paper or two that investigated this that I want to compare to but they (I think did the work on the treadmill (and only went up to maybe 40%) so not sure how it will compare