sort out
wotz wot
with this Walking Time Calculator
using Naismith's rule and Tranter's corrections
Walking time for Ben Nevis via Tourist Route - WotzWot Walking Time Calculator
Result: Your Walking Time for Ben Nevis via Tourist Route:
Naismith's time excluding breaks:
4.71 hours
4 hours 43 minutes
Corrected time excluding breaks:
5.89 hours
5 hours 53 minutes
Total time including breaks:
6.14 hours
6 hours 8 minutes
Please check carefully the walk details and parameters used below, and re-calculate if necessary
Your walking time calculation has been saved at this link:
Walking Time for Ben Nevis via Tourist Route
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Basic Walk details:
Adjustable parameters
Basic Naismith Parameters:
Walking Speed:
miles per hour
km per hour
Ascent Time:
mins per
metres
Optional Descent Adjustments
:
Steep Descent Time:
mins per
metres
Gentle Descent Time:
mins per
metres
Walk Name:
(optional)
Total Distance:
miles
km
Total Ascent:
metres
Total Break Time:
minutes
Adjustments
for descent (optional):
Steep Descent:
metres
Enter here only the amounts of descent steep enough to slow you down from your normal speed on the flat, and gentle (and smooth) enough to allow you to speed up. (Parameters are set in the table above)
Gentle Descent:
metres
Tranter's corrections:
Fitness Level
Choose fitness (see table)
1 - Superfit - a fellrunner?
2 - Very fit
3 - Fit
4 - OK
5 - Rather slow uphill
6 - Unfit
Fitness Level
Fitness
Level
Time taken to climb
300m in 800m
(1,000ft in half a mile)
1
15 mins
2
20 mins
3
25 mins
4
30 mins
5
40 mins
6
50 mins
Load:
Light Daysack
Medium or Heavy Pack
Conditions Underfoot:
Good paths throughout
Mixed - path + slippery, rough or boggy
Mostly slippery, rough or boggy
Mostly difficult or dangerous
Visibility:
Good
Night
Mist
Weather:
Light or no wind
Strong wind and/or heavy rain or snow
Blizzard
Tips on use:
If you have already timed yourself on some walks, use those times to test what fitness level gives the best result for you.
Be very cautious about using the top fitness levels, otherwise be prepared to jog on gentler walks to achieve the suggested times! Tranter's corrections halve Naismith's time for fitness level 1 on the shortest walks, and reduce Naismith's time for fitness level 2 on all walks up to 10 hours. For fitness level 3, Tranter's corrections reduce time estimates for walks below 3 hours and increase time estimates for longer walks.
Be realistic about break times - allow for those 10 minute breathers as well as the lunch stop.
Make an extra allowance for any other delaying factors, such as difficult route finding, frequent photograph stops, particularly difficult walk sections, queues on Striding Edge, etc.
Always base walking time on the slowest walker in the group, and allow them their full break times!
Don't expect to be able to calculate times to the minute! A 6 hour estimate could easily be an hour (or more) out, depending on the precise conditions encountered, and the speed you feel like maintaining (or are capable of maintaining) on that particular day.
Always make allowance for conditions changing after you set off.
And if the pubs are closed by the time you finish - don't blame us!
Background info:
Naismith's rule was named after the Scottish climber W W Naismith, who devised the rule in 1892. The rule is very simple and easy to use, being based on an average walking peed of 3 miles per hour and an additional allowance of half an hour per 1,000 feet of ascent.
The basic rule often works very well for walks of up to about 4 hours in good conditions on good paths, although many people prefer to use a gentler pace of 2.5 miles per hour as the walking speed. The rule does not take into account the slowing effect of steep descents or the speeding up on gentle descents. These can be taken into account with the additional adjustments, but often these will more or less cancel each other out.
More importantly, Naismiths rule does not take into account fatigue during a walk, the load carried, difficult ground or bad weather. Tranter's corrections were designed to take fatigue and fitness into account, and consist of a table of adjustments for different fitness levels and different lengths of walk. To measure your fitness level, you should time an ascent of 1,000 feet in half a mile (300m in 800m). For the top fitness levels, the corrections reduce the time estimates for shorter walks by up to half, so be prepared for some jogging if you use those fitness levels on gentle walks! The corrections then progressively increase the time estimates for both increasing walk lengths and reducing fitness levels. By adjusting fitness levels, Tranter's corrections can also be used to take into account bad weather or the conditions underfoot.
Check out some calculations for
Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike & Snowdon
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