1800s Altimeter

[Hillwalker]

With all the hype and interest in GPS, and wrist altimeters I wonder just how items like this were used by hikers and climbers.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=110377647065

 

[RoySwkr]

With all the hype and interest in GPS, and wrist altimeters I wonder just how items like this were used by hikers and climbers.

Much as they are used today

You can of course use altimeters for navigation, some route descriptions say for example to take the L fork at 2300' or leave the trail there and climb to the ridge

They can also be used to record summit elevations if you think the map is wrong, there were 2 women in the 1800s each claiming the highest mountain climbed by a woman but rather than climbing something unequivocally higher they employed surveyors to prove their peak was higher than the other one's

 

[NewHampshire]

Well, basically as long as you had a set base elevation (and you know, it did not actually have to be ACCURATE, just as long as all information was consistent along that innacuracy) then it would have been pretty easy!

Brian