The hiking distances, elevation changes, and elevation profiles that we show in these pages are approximate. Here is how this information was determined.
Dinesh Desai estimated the distances to be walked from information available to him, generally from maps published by the agencies on whose lands we walked. We show that distance in whole miles (and that value was converted to kilometers and rounded to the nearest kilometer). Nevertheless, some distances shown may be in error by a mile or two. Distance walked was not an important number in the Everest by the Bay project (though it was important to our feet), so we have not made a large effort to improve the accuracy of these values.
This value is the key to Everest by the Bay, whose goal was to gain at least 29,029 feet in elevation. This value for any route is the estimated sum of all substantial gains in elevation encountered along the entire round-trip (or out and back) route. The Everest by the Bay group measured these positive changes using barometric altimeter equipment (Suunto and second-generation Avocet) while actually walking Everest by the Bay. The values obtained agreed with each other fairly closely. In these pages, we show the mean of those values, rounded to the nearest hundred feet. (We then converted these mean rounded values to meters.)
The graphical elevation profiles displayed on these pages were produced by TOPO! software. These profiles are a by-product of drawing a route onto an on-screen topographical map within the TOPO! software. The values on the vertical axis are feet above sea level. While the overall representation of the route's elevation changes is excellent, many of the small changes shown are artifacts of the limitations of the software and of the accuracy to which the trail can be located on the map. Therefore, the "small jaggies" in the profile should generally be disregarded.
Owners of TOPO! software can download and use the Everest by the Bay .tpo file. If you do this, you will be able to see the Everest by the Bay routes in great detail, display the elevation profile, and print maps and profiles to paper. The TOPO! software also displays the length of the route and the sum of all positive and negative elevation changes on the route. The result of the way many trails are represented on maps, however, is that TOPO! will underestimate the distance and overestimate the elevation changes. Therefore, these distances and elevation changes were not used to produce the numbers we show on these pages.