TR: October Day 7

In article <blvh7a$qjn$1@news7.svr.pol.co.uk>, Paul Saunders
<pvs1@wildwales.fsnet.co.uk> writes
>Another late start and more rush hour traffic to contend with. This
>time I thought I'd add to my summit total but being short of time I
>opted for Garreg Lwyd on the very western end of the Brecon Beacons,
>easily accessible from the road.
>
>As I got there a farmer was driving a quad bike around, herding sheep
>and bringing them down off the hill. The sunshine was intermittent with
>large swathes of thick cloud racing through the sky, bringing the
>possibility of a sunset, or perhaps rain, I couldn't be sure.
>
>In my rush I'd forgotten my gloves and hat, which was silly of me,
>although my fleece has a convenient hood. The wind was quite strong and
>the wind chill a little unpleasant, so I donned my waterproof jacket to
>help keep it out, but that left me with chilly hands for operating my
>cameras.
>
>The short climb was uneventful and mostly shrouded in shadow, although
>the clouds made for a few decent snaps. Reaching the huge summit cairn
>of Garreg Lwyd I stopped to take a number of photographs, it being the
>most interesting feature in the vicinity (rounded hills don't make very
>spectacular photographs). I took a number of infrared shots, all of
>which required long exposures, but the strong wind caused the tripod and
>camera to vibrate, ruining some of them. Still, I got a few which might
>be useable.
>
>The clouds continued to build up, and after a brief promise of something
>interesting the slightly pink upper clouds turned grey and I realised
>there'd be no sunset, so I set off back to the car. There wasn't enough
>time to extend the walk to Foel Fraith, and I had no torch with me.
>
>On the way back down the hill I suddenly realised that my wallet was
>missing. It should have been in my back pocket but wasn't. After a
>brief moment of panic I reasoned that I'd probably left it at home, but
>couldn't be sure. It wasn't far back to the summit so I trudged back
>up, just to be on the safe side. Sure enough, it wasn't there, but what
>was there was an almost full moon that suddenly appeared from behind the
>cloud bank.
>
>Since I was there I figured I may as well set the tripod up again and
>take some more shots, of the moon behind the cairn. The light was low
>and the exposures long and the wind made it very awkward to ensure good
>results, so I bracketed a lot and used varying exposures. In calm
>weather I could have done much better but the wind made it difficult to
>ensure the best results. The wind chill and my cold hands didn't
>encourage me to take my time over it either.
>
>I recall thinking that the conditions were not at all pleasant for
>anyone spending the night on the mountain, unless wrapped up snug and
>warm in a thick sleeping bag and a hot cup of tea in a tent well
>sheltered from the wind. Now that did sound appealing...
>
>I retraced my route as best I could with the GPS but in the fading
>twilight it's unlikely I'd have spotted my wallet anyway, even if I had
>dropped it up there. It turned out that I was correct, I had left it at
>home after all. However, returning to look for it may have resulted in
>the best shots from a bad day.
>
>Distance: 3.4km - Ascent: 170m - Effort Rating: 5.1 - Duration: 2 hours
>1 minute
>
>Paul


How is Effort Rating calculated?


Bernard Hill
Selkirk, Scotland

In article <bm3iis$d0u$1@news6.svr.pol.co.uk>, Paul Saunders
<pvs1@wildwales.fsnet.co.uk> writes
>Bernard Hill wrote:
>
>> Applying your formula is beginning to annoy me. I'm a miles and feet
>> man. Not so nice is
>>
>> Miles*1.6 + feet/330
>
>Well my effort rating is a "kilometre equivalent", i.e. the distance
>you'd have to walk in kilometres on flat ground to expend the same
>effort.
>
>You could do a "mile equivalent" effort rating. 1 mile would equal
>528ft, which could be conveniently rounded down to 500ft. There's a bit
>of rounding on my formula but I can't remember how much offhand. It
>might be better to recalculate a mile equivalent from the original
>formula. I'll dig it up shortly.

That would be appreciated.


D + H/500 sounds much better to calculate. Then simply divide by 1.6 for
k.e. to m.e.




>
>It might be a good idea to standardise a suffix so that there's no
>confusion. I've tended to put ef on the end of mine (short for effort),
>but it might be more appropriate to put ke (kilometre equivalent),
>whereas your suffix would be me (mile equivalent). Any other ideas?

But basically in your/our formula are saying that a 1 in 10 slope
doubles the effort.

So you quote the effort rating as "Effort-Equivalent km" or "Effort-
Equivalent miles" and then we can do mental conversions.

But as a general point I find the only lack is the descent parameter. I
do not find that coming down 3000 feet over 2 miles is the same effort
as 2 miles on the flat.

Mind you, the effort involved in flat walking and ascending and
descending are *much* more influenced by the quality of the terrain than
height and distance.

I normally walk at least half of a walk over unpathed tussocky or
heathery ground. On holiday in the summer I did Cairngorm and Ben MacDui
(11 miles, 3300ft giving 17.6 eem <g>) but the effort was much smaller
than an unpathed walk I did a month or two earlier here in the border
hills covering 7 miles and 1800ft. (10.6eem). In the Cairngorms at the
worst the paths were flat and sandy and at the best were laid stones
with steps in them!

But the isolation of walking here is well worth the extra effort. Not a
single person sighted all day once out of sight of the car.


Bernard Hill
Selkirk, Scotland