hiking speed/times

[giggy]

Hi all - this is an odd question, but more and more I am venturing out with folks I just meet I want to be sure I am telling them my speed correctly.
Many of my partners of the last few years aren't venturing out anymore.

Anyway - I did the franconia loop (Laff/Lincoln/haystack, etc..) in 5.5 hours. ( I was solo, so minimal rests, etc..) the other day. I came down thinking I did it in pretty good time, but then I do the calcuation and its only 1.6 mph - granted, it tough terrain, etc.....

Now -- by going by the AMC calculation I think 2mph is fast and 2-3 is very fast and under 2 is slower, etc. 1.6 mph is in the slower catagory.

I never bothered worrying about this before, but now, I want to make sure trips I go on with unknown people, I am in the right category. I don't care about going slow, I just don't want to be left behind.


I always thought I went at a good pace, but if I go by that, I am in the slower catagory and thats fine, but I want to make sure I am telling people the right thing.

thanks - any thoughts appreciated.

 

[David Metsky]

The AMC Booktime is 30 minutes for each mile, plus 30 minutes for each 1000 foot of elevation gain. I forget what booktime is for the Franconia Loop, but I think 5.5 is certainly faster than booktime, especially in winter. Regardless of terrain, I find that people usually average only about 1MPH in winter. 1.6 MPH in winter is pretty good, especially over the terrain on Franconia Ridge.

-dave-

 

[ken]

I want to make sure trips I go on with unknown people, I am in the right category. I don't care about going slow, I just don't want to be left behind.

45 minutes per mile is decent time on snowshoes (if trail was already broken, if unbroken it could be 1 mile per hour or more) - - a dry trail 2 miles per hour is good (unless it is flat - then 3 miles per hour is a good pace) - if you are doing the above you should be good for a #4 rated AMC hike.

 

[hikerfast]

their formula is 2 mph on FLAT GROUND. I think of those book estimates as being for a backpacking group of 4. They are very conservative. Most hikers hike a percentage faster than those times..maybe 20 percent on the average..some hike slower than them. You hike quite fast. If you can do that loop in 5.5 hours on icy terrain, you are moving right along. Hiking protocol in a group is to put the slowest person in front and hike at their pace. I wouldn't be worried in the slightest about holding up a group. More than half of hikers I think couldn't keep up with your pace.

 

[John H Swanson]

I use the following guide to evaluate hiking and it might be useful for you.

If the terrain has less than 500 gain in each mile then it is not steep and use mph for evaluation 2mph or less is slow. 2-3 moderate, over 3mph is fast.

If the terrain has more than 500 gain per mile than I use the elevation to evaluate the pace. more than 6 min per 100ft gained or more is slow. 5-6 min per 100 is moderate. 3-5 min per 100 is fast. Of course beaking trail changes the whole picture.

Descent follows similarly but has other overriding factors, mostly related to footing and how much abuse you are willing to give your body.

When I use this method, I can accurately evaluate how long it will take me to cover the route. This is based on knowing my normal climbing rate for trail, off trail, high altitude, or when fresh or tired. All these are different but still repeatable within a range.

I often estimate eta and monitor progress throughout the climb. I will sometimes use this same method (discretely) to evaluate people I'm hiking with. Once when leading a hike I was sweeping the route with the slowest hiker. I arrived at a re-grouping and my co-leader asked if everything was okay since they had been waiting for a while. I said. "we're moving steady at 7 min per 100" I knew that this was "greek" to most or all of the participants, but communicated the status accurately to the co-leader as we both know our own rate of climbing.

Interesting enough, I saw a qualifier used in CO for fitness level needed to join a club hike. "Must be able to climb 1000 ft is on hour." (6 min/100)

JHS

 

[trailbiscuit]

John - That's too much math for me! YIKES!

For summer trips, I always estimate 1 hour per mile regardless of the terrain. It usually evens out this way. And if I'm feeling slow, I can dog it on the flat terrain.

 

[Stan]

Like trailbiscuit, I budget on 1 MPH in good conditions ... not winter ... with the knowledge that trail's end is often ahead of schedule but that it's no big deal to finish by headlamp either. That way, it is possible to linger over lunch, views or any other rapture, raptors, or moose tracking without guilt or shame.

Perhaps in addition to compatibility in pace the test of the right speed is in attitude towards such distractions and whether someone must get back in time for dinner or other commitment.

 

[tonycc]

We have always budgeted 1 - 1.5 miles per hour, depending on the conditions and terrain. Works really well, even though we have had many off trail discussions (especially with less experienced people) about how this seems very slow compared to known walking speeds of 2 - 3 miles per hour. I've always attributed the difference to stopping to snack, drink, smell the flowers or enjoy the view.

On a recent winter hike in the Cats, we did Blackhead and Blackdome from the Batavia Kill trail head. This was a 6+mile total trip, with several thousand feet of elevation gain, some of the trail required crampons but no snowshoes. Took us about 5.5 hours. I was coming down with a chest cold which really slowed the pace during the climbs. Someone had a new GPS with them and the trip summary gave an average speed of 1.1 miles per hour. What was most interesting? 2:35 hours:minutes of moving, 2:51 of sitting still! Case closed!

Tony

 

[DougPaul]

> Someone had a new GPS with them and the trip summary gave an average speed of 1.1 miles per hour. What was most interesting? 2:35 hours:minutes of moving, 2:51 of sitting still! Case closed!

Not necessarily--the GPS has a speed threshold to differentiate between moving and stationary (even if the unit is stationary, the indicated position will move around slowly) and probably logs lost-lock time as stationary time. How much lost lock time you had depends on the GPS, the satellite constellation, how the owner was carrying the GPS, terrain, and tree cover. The overall average speed can still be reasonably accurate, depending on the path actually taken, where the lost locks occur, and luck.

That said, the amount of non-moving time on a hike frequently adds up to a surprising total.

Doug

 

[tonycc]

> Someone had a new GPS with them and the trip summary gave an average speed of 1.1 miles per hour. What was most interesting? 2:35 hours:minutes of moving, 2:51 of sitting still! Case closed!

Not necessarily--

Darn!

The guy with the GPS is usually our fastest hiker, but playing with his new toy really slowed him down. It fact the other guy and I commented how much we liked that aspect of a gps unit. His eyes were on it almost constantly, and he did lose lock a few times (like when he tried putting it in a pocket, but for the most part it was tracking almost constantly so the standing/moving times are probably fairly close in this case.

Tony

 

[CatskillsYeti]

Wow. I thought my "good conditions" average of 1 mph (arrived at by dividing the number of trail miles by the time it takes to complete the hike, thereby including meal stops and other breaks) was slow, but I guess it's only a little slow! I feel much better now!