Measuring my height (above sea level)

[Speicher]

I would like to be able to calculate how high I have climbed on a walk. Is there a simple device that will calculate how high I have climbed, (a bit like a pedometer but just measure the increase in height) or tell me how high I am at any point, and I will do the maths in my head. I have looked at a gps, but it looks very complicated considering the info that I would like to obtain.

 

[Peter]

GPS would be your best and most accurate bet, but they do tend to be expensive.

 

[Speicher]

Yes, for I what I want it to do, it seems far too complicated, and expensive. I might try to get an accurate and large/small scale, (never can remember which way round it is), to calculate the ascents on the area I normally walk in. One less item to lose, and/or carry around.

 

[Night Train]

An OS map would do it for you. Tells you where you are, how far you have walked and your height above sea level at each point of the walk.

If you use a gadget then it would only tell you how high you are at the time you check. If you walked up 50m then down 50m and then up again 100m it would only tell you that you are at the top of the second peak, 100m. With a map you can see each of the inclines and add all the heights together to see how much height you have walked, in this case 150m height.

 

[Speicher]

So for the Malverns for instance, what size/scale map do I need to get as many contours as wide as possible, on the page, so that I can plot my route, and get an approx idea of the ascent. I would like to know whether my walk has climbed 500, 700, or 1000 feet etc or metres, (200, 250 or 350 etc) is does not need to be calculated to the nearest foot. Just a general idea of how my climbing ability is improving.

If I go on a walking holiday, I need to know what sort of climbs I can do, and it is also as a target for improvement.

 

[longers]

I find the OS Explorer range at 1:24,888 plus 222 excellent for navigating by. They're the ones in the orange jacket.

Please do your own maths for the scale .

 

[Night Train]

I don't really know, it's been a couple of decades since I used one looking for green lanes to drive on.

I would go to an outwards bounds type shop and have a look at the maps available to see which cover the are you walk in and what the scale looks like. It can be useful to have a map that covers the overall area and then others that look in a larger scale at where you walk so you can see the paths and land marks.
You can then see the contour lines for the path where you start and the peak height for your destinations as you walk.

Then get a compass and a small pair of binoculars and a little magnifying glass to see the map details.

 

[HLaB]

Why not use a web package like bikehike let it do the work, just un-tick the follow road option, tick the show elevation box and draw the approx route.

 

[Speicher]

I have tried that, (there are quite a few mountain bikers on the Malverns). Thanks for the suggestion.

That site show a large white area where the Malverns should be. From a bicycling point of view, perhaps my ascents are not noticeable.

 

[Mr Pig]

I have a bike computer that tells you what height you're at. In fact you can set it to record the data and look at later etc, I'm, not sure exactly how it works as I've never used it. In fact I've never used the whole computer, it's still in the box! Sell you it if you want it? ;0)

 

[Speicher]

That's kind of you, but the simpler the better as far as I am concerned. So I might start with a good map, and a magnifying glass and a slide-rule calculator.

 

[Mr Pig]

What could be simpler than reading a number off a screen?

 

[Crackle]

Thought about an altimeter wrist watch Spikes? Might be a tadge more expensive than a map though (£70 ish upwards). Also a bit of digging on Google and you might find people have posted the profiles of popular walks.

 

[Mr Pig]

Thought about an altimeter wrist watch Spikes? (£70 ish upwards).

You can have my thingy for £15 including postage. I'll never use it.

 

[Speicher]

Does your thingy have a name or a link please so that I can see what it does/measures. I am sorry to be awkward, but finances at Speicher towers are very tight at the moment.