Elevation Difference snd Elevation Gain

1 October 2022

The difference between an easy or difficult bushwalk!

SOME DEFINITIONS

TOTAL DISTANCE

This is the distance from start to finish whether the walk is out and back or a loop!

ELEVATION

This one is easy: elevation is the height of a point above sea level.

HEIGHT

Height is the vertical distance of a point to a horizontal surface. for instance the base of a mountain. It usually refers to a feature such as a hill or a mountain.

ELEVATION DIFFERENCE

Elevation difference is the vertical distance between two points for instance the highest and lowest elevation of the track.

CUMULATIVE ELEVATION GAIN

Cumulative elevation gain is the sum of all increases in elevation throughout a trip.
It is also called cumulative gain or elevation gain or total ascent.

ELEVATION PROFILE

An elevation profile provides a view of a terrain’s elevation along a line such as a recorded GPS track.

EXAMPLE 1: MOUNT BANKS SUMMIT WALK

This is the elevation profile for the Mount Banks Summit Track (Source: AllTrails).

This is an out and back trail hence the symmetry! From the GPS data, we get the following:

• total distance: 2.3 km
• highest elevation: 1070 m
• lowest elevation: 874 m
• elevation difference: 1070-874 = 196 m
• cumulative elevation gain: 189 m

Mount Banks elevation is 1062 m according to the topographic map.

The first thing to notice it that as expected GPS elevations are not accurate but this is not a problem as we just want to get an idea of the difficulty of the hike.

The elevation difference between lowest and highest point and the cumulative elevation gain are similar. This is a gradual climb which gets steeper towards the summit.

Overall this is an easy bushwalk (grade 3 according to National Parks)

EXAMPLE 2: NARROW NECK FIRE TRAIL

This is the elevation profile of the fire trail on Narrow Neck plateau in Katoomba – return trip (Source: AllTrails).

This is an out and back trail hence the symmetry! From the GPS data, we get the following:

• total distance: 25 km
• highest elevation: 1072 m
• lowest elevation: 906 m
• elevation difference: 1073-906 = 167m
• cumulative elevation gain: 840 m

According to the topographic map the highest elevation is found on Bushwalkers Hill at 1072 m. The height of the hill is about 15 m.

The cumulative elevation gain is high as it includes the return trip.

Although a priori, walking or cycling on a plateau seems like an easy trip, the number of ups and downs (some steep) and the distance make it a demanding trip!

IN SUMMARY

Distance and cumulative elevation gain are good predictors of hard or easy a bushwalk will be. However there are other factors to consider…

Elevation Total Ascent

Map and Navigation

Elevation Difference snd Elevation Gain