Mountain heights

[Timinator]

I've been curious for a while about the cdt average mountain heights. On the Appalachian trail the average height is about 2000ish. I'm seeing a lot of 10-14k peaks on the cdt and I'm wondering if it's just 14k above sea level or is the mountain really 7 times higher than the ones on the Appalachian trail equaling to a 7 times higher climb?

[Mountain Mike]

You are just higher in general. It's important to aclimate at the start of a trip.

[Timinator]

So how high would you estimate the actually average mountain height is from ground?

[mudhead]

You can find that on the web for each peak you are interested in. The term is "prominence."

You might want to pick on some of these in Summer first.

You can stand on the prairie in KS and be higher than alot of stuff back East.

[10-K]

Sea level... When I was out west in Yellowstone and the Tetons they didn't strike me as any "higher" than 6000' peaks back east.

I was expecting these ginormous, huge towering mountains.. It was a bit of a disappointment actually.

[tdoczi]

You can find that on the web for each peak you are interested in. The term is "prominence."

You might want to pick on some of these in Summer first.

You can stand on the prairie in KS and be higher than alot of stuff back East.

this is a bit of a sidetrack, but ive always found prominence to be a bit misleading. mt everest is the most prominent mtn on the planet, but the vertical rise from the nearest plateau to the summit of denali is far greater. to me this shows the measuring of prominence to be flawed somehow, though i by no means no where the flaw lies.

[colorado_rob]

Yes, some of the mountains along the CDT trail are above 14K feet in Colorado, not in the other states, where they are lower. But what counts, once you're acclimated (which shouldn't take long) is the vertical gain, which is not much larger than the big peaks back east, maybe a bit more on average. I climbs "14ers" (14 thousand foot peaks) all the time, the average elevation gain from the trailheads is this 3000-4500 or so vertical feet.

Here's a list of CD peaks, by prominence.

http://listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/ContSelect.php

[Timinator]

I see, thank you.

[Mags]

Sea level... When I was out west in Yellowstone and the Tetons they didn't strike me as any "higher" than 6000' peaks back east.

I was expecting these ginormous, huge towering mountains.. It was a bit of a disappointment actually.

Yeppers...

Longs Peak (a 14k foot peak) has about 5000' gain from the TH to the summit via the popular route.

Katahdin has about 4000' vert gain from the TH to the summit via the popular route.

OTOH, go to the Winds and the vert gain (and the overall jagged-ness of the peaks) makes them look like monsters compared to the peaks back East.

[colorado_rob]

Just a comment on Longs, because we don't want to scare the easterners away: Longs Peak vertical gain is more than most of the CO 14ers, as I said, probably the average is more like 3000-4500 or so from the highest trailheads. A couple of 14ers have a mere 2000' vertical gain. Well, a few of them you can even drive up (Evans, Pikes, Lincoln, Bross).

By the way, right this very moment, a friend of mine is attempting to break the CO 14er speed record. The current record for climbing all 55 CO 14ers is 10 days 20 hours. He is on track so far, having dome 32 of them in 5 days.

[colorado_rob]

PS: I cannot wait to get back east next spring/summer/fall on the AT and check out those eastern US peaks!!!!

[Mags]

Just a comment on Longs, because we don't want to scare the easterners away: Longs Peak vertical gain is more than most of the CO 14ers, as I said, probably the average is more like 3000-4500 or so from the highest trailheads.

I used Longs as it is an iconic peak that is considered to have a lot of vert gain. Much like Katahdin....just to make more of an apples-to-apples comparison.

Personally, I tend to not do 14ers.

[Spirit Walker]

In New Mexico, you are almost always above 7000' except right at the border , but only occasionally as high as 10,000'. In Colorado you are almost always above 10,000', but you usually only climb to 11-12,000 - with only a few above 13,000'. In Wyoming you are at about 7000' in the desert, 10,000' in the mountains. Southern Montana is mostly 9-10,000'. Northern Montana a bit lower - 8-9000'.

Jim Wolf gives you all elevation changes over 50', so you get a good idea of how much up and down you'll be doing each day. (Unlike the PCT which only gave elevation at specific points and ignored the ups and downs between the points.)

In Colorado, the Winds, and parts of Montana you'll feel like you're doing some serious climbing because you'll have numerous 1000' climbs in a day, and you're doing it at elevation. The rest doesn't feel that bad.

[10-K]

Of course, it doesn't really matter. What you see is what you get to climb...

[handlebar]

Someone has a web site with profiles of the AT, PCT, and CDT. You could download those and check them out for the info you want. I know at least one day this summer we descended about 1500 feet then climbed 3000 feet then descended another 1000 feet. One thing is that most (not all) of the trails in the west are switchbacked to be suitable for stock, while there are climbs on the AT (Stecoah Gap) that go straight up the side of a mountain for 2000' vertical.

[bearcreek]

Here are figures for the amount amount of climb on the CDT based upon profiles along our gps track. This is derived from the government DEM databases. It is not exact, but it is definitely in the ballpark.

NM - 111,125'
CO - 246,262'
WY - 71,305'
MT/ID - 221,025'

Total: 649,717'