Biggest change in elevation.

14ers in California and Washington state or any other peak in the USA
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Jbrow327
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Biggest change in elevation.

Post by Jbrow327 »

What are the biggest changes in elevation in your state? What about the USA? And what about planet earth?
I know the Himalayas are the highest but I don't know if they also have the most vertical rise. Thanks guys you're very informative on here.
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Re: Biggest change in elevation.

Post by Ptglhs »

Dead Sea to Everest would be the biggest absolute change in end points. Your question is very broad and vague so narrowing your inquiry would be helpful.
Jbrow327
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Re: Biggest change in elevation.

Post by Jbrow327 »

Let me rephrase. What is the biggest mountain in your state? The USA? And the world? Purely in terms of vertical rise. The massive mountain you see rising far above you.
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CheapCigarMan
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Re: Biggest change in elevation.

Post by CheapCigarMan »

I should be on a mountain
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Re: Biggest change in elevation.

Post by Jorts »

I've never heard of a measurement for it, but I'm curious about vertical rise relative to shorter horizontal distances - like from a trailhead or similar. Prominence can be misleading. For example, Elbert is more prominent than Baker but Baker has more vertical rise than the immediate surrounding topography.
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Re: Biggest change in elevation.

Post by spiderman »

Not surprisingly, ListsofJohn has many lists with that criteria. Here are the steepest most-prominent peaks in the West. Top of the list is Grand Teton with 6500' of prominence and an average steepness of 41 degrees.
https://listsofjohn.com/customlists?lid=258

Here is another list for less-prominent CONUS peaks, with The Titan (Utah) reaching 71 degrees, albeit with only 720 feet of prominence.
https://www.listsofjohn.com/steepness/angle.php?all=y

Get familiar with LoJ and Peakbagger because they are amazing sites. You might really enjoy the 5000' prominence lists since all of those peaks are amazing. Baker is amazing. Elbert is amazing. He/She Devil are amazing. McDonald was one of my all-time favorites. Cleveland is spectacular. Crazy is a hidden gem. Olympus is a unique rain-forest to glacier to rock pinnacle epic. There are so many wonderful peaks on the list that you will be busy for quite a few years to finish the contiguous-United States 57 peaks (58 if you are old). Once you do that subset, there are another 1400+ ultraprominent peaks to work on. I am up to 89 total myself, loving every single Ultra that I have ever climbed on six continents.
https://www.peakbagger.com/list.aspx?lid=41203
Last edited by spiderman on Sat Mar 21, 2020 9:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Biggest change in elevation.

Post by highpilgrim »

Telescope Peak in Death Valley, California only has about 6000 feet of prominence, but it has a trail from Death Valley at Badwater that amounts to 11K+ TH to summit.

It's on my list for next fall. :) https://www.summitpost.org/telescope-pe ... 250/370226
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wineguy
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Re: Biggest change in elevation.

Post by wineguy »

highpilgrim wrote: Sat Mar 21, 2020 9:44 am Telescope Peak in Death Valley, California only has about 6000 feet of prominence, but it has a trail from Death Valley at Badwater that amounts to 11K+ TH to summit.
I highly recommend the Telescope Peak hike. I did this on my 7th trip to Death Valley and it was amazing, an experience of Death Valley like no other. Trail follows a ridge that provides an expansive view both to the east and west.
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Re: Biggest change in elevation.

Post by jdorje »

Pikes Peak from Manitou is about 7500 net vertical, 7800 gross, in about 13 trail miles. From Colorado Springs it would be higher (but much longer). There are probably hikes with nearly as much vertical that are much shorter - Blanca from the bottom of the road is 6400' in 8.5 miles. From the Arkansas river at the border to the top of Elbert would be about 11.1k net (and far, far more gross) vertical, over some hundreds of miles - possibly worthy of a FKT challenge of some sort.

The Diamond on Longs and the Painted Wall in the Black Canyon are probably the tallest sheer faces in Colorado - very roughly 2000 vertical over 0 horizontal.

Other states and other countries have far bigger walkable/climbable vertical distances. Denali and Rainier both have a lot of local prominence (not the same as topological prominence) even on a worldwide scale. Generally if you're looking at trail miles though, most trails are going to be of similar steepness and just switchback as necessary to make it up steeper terrain.

LoJ has several formulas for "steepness" of peaks, based on average vertical gain in a given radius around the summit.

The problem with a comparison of this sort is it's always a sliding scale with two parameters. As you allow longer and longer distances you keep getting greater and greater verticals. You could make a list of all the hikes that are more vertical than any shorter hike than them (and shorter than any hike with more vertical than them), but never a single answer unless you add in artificial limitations.

If you just want a lot of on-trail quick vertical, running up and down the Manitou Incline (Inclinathon?) may be your most efficient way. Though not as efficient as the nearest staircase.
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Jbrow327
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Re: Biggest change in elevation.

Post by Jbrow327 »

Thanks guys. To make it even more simple, the biggest mountains you can see from their base or anywhere around them.
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oldschool
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Re: Biggest change in elevation.

Post by oldschool »

You can see 10,000 ft of elevation change from Bishop, CA, looking west to the crest of the Sierra's. Not sure this is the biggest but it's big and looks massive.
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Re: Biggest change in elevation.

Post by seano »

Jbrow327 wrote: Sat Mar 21, 2020 1:52 pm Thanks guys. To make it even more simple, the biggest mountains you can see from their base or anywhere around them.
Nevado de Famatina in Argentina is about 5000 meters above Chilecito, the city at its base. Several other High Andes peaks between Santiago and the Atacama have that kind of line-of-sight relief. Not much in the world outside the Himalaya and (on a clear day) the Alaskan Coast Range can match that.
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