Enrichment · Passion Projects · Outdoors

Every climb on the route,
added up before
you lace up.

List points along the trail with their distance and elevation. The calculator adds up every climb and descent, finds the steepest stretch, draws the profile and estimates the walking time.

Add up the climbWhat you get

The elevation gain calculator

The worked example is a made-up 7.2-mile ridge loop for a school hiking club. Nothing you type leaves this browser.

Loading the calculator. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Enrichment · Passion ProjectsFree

What you finish with
Total gain and loss, net change, high and low points, each leg’s grade, a profile drawing and a Naismith time. It prints as a summary and downloads as a spreadsheet.
Who it is for
Hikers, runners and cyclists planning a route, school outdoor clubs, and students learning slope from real maps.
Format
Browser calculator for a phone, tablet or computer, by touch or keyboard, in feet and miles or metres and kilometres. Prints a summary; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); export and import a file.
Access
Free. No account, no sign-in and nothing to install. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Passion Projects space in Caveat Enrichment.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Choose feet and miles or metres and kilometres.
  2. Add the start, each high and low point and the finish, with distance from the start.
  3. Read the gain, the steepest leg and the time.
  4. Check the profile for a typing slip.
  5. Print the summary for the trip leader.

Add up the climb

How the climb is added up

Only the uphill counts as gain.

The worked example: a 7.2-mile loopRises+845 +525 +170creek to summit, saddle to overlookGain1,540 ftonly the risesSteepest leg12.3%845 ft over 1.3 mi, upNaismith3.17 h7.2 ÷ 3 + 1,540 ÷ 2,000The worked example: a 7.2-mile loopRises+845 +525 +170creek to summit, saddle to overlookGain1,540 ftonly the risesSteepest leg12.3%845 ft over 1.3 mi, upNaismith3.17 h7.2 ÷ 3 + 1,540 ÷ 2,000
A loop ends where it started, so its net change is zero, but every climb in between still costs effort. Gain counts only the uphill legs.

Gain, loss and grade

Elevation gain is the sum of every rise between one point and the next; loss is the sum of every drop. A loop has zero net change but can have thousands of feet of gain. Grade is rise divided by run: 845 feet up over 1.3 miles (6,864 feet) is 12.3%. Pick points at every high and low, or the in-between climbs vanish from the total.

Naismith’s rule

Scottish mountaineer William Naismith suggested in 1892 allowing an hour for every three miles plus an hour for every 2,000 feet of ascent; the metric form is 5 km/h plus an hour per 600 m. It estimates moving time for fit walkers on good paths. Groups, packs, heat and rough ground all add time, and long descents slow people more than the rule assumes.

Sources

  1. Naismith, W. W. (1892). Excursions: Cruach Ardran, Stobinian, and Ben More. Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal, 2(3), 136.
  2. U.S. Geological Survey. Topographic map symbols and contour lines (usgs.gov).
  3. National Park Service. Hike smart: plan ahead and know your limits (nps.gov).
  4. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Slope as rate of change (nctm.org).

The worked example is made up. Check conditions and turn-around times before any hike. Your route stays in this browser. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.