Exaggerated Wind Claims In Trail Reports

[DayTrip]

A previous thread on this subject:

http://www.summitpost.org/phpBB3/judging-wind-speeds-t62760.html

Related: http://www.summitpost.org/phpBB3/what-wind-speed-will-stop-you-from-falling-down-t25228.html

Thanks. I think my curiosity officially died when that big graph with all the calculations showed up. I'm ready to go ahead and carry on with the rest of my life now.

 

[TCD]

What I use as a reference point for the "far end of the range": a spreadeagled skydiver falls at about 120 mph. So 120 is enough for you to fly like a kite at the end of a rope.

The highest I've been out in (it was summer) was about 40, gusting to 60. The 40 was difficult: each time I picked up a foot, it would get blown around and I would trip and stumble. The gust of 60 knocked me right down on my ass. IMO, no one hikes into 90 mph; it's just a good story, like walking to school "ten miles uphill both ways in chest deep snow" that people tell their grandkids.