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Hike time

Naismith's rule, corrected for descent, pack and the stops nobody plans for.

km

Trail distance for the whole route, out and back if it returns the same way.

m

Everything gained, including the re-climbs — not just the summit height.

m

Equal to ascent on a there-and-back route.

kg

A day pack is 5–8 kg. A full multi-day load is 15–20 kg.

Time on the hill

4 h 5 minincluding stops

3 h 30 min moving, plus about 35 min of stops — averaging 3.4 km/h over the ground.

Distance
2 h 24 min12.0 km at Naismith's 5 km/h
Ascent
1 h 30 min900 m at an hour per 600 m
Descent
−30 minA graded descent is faster than the same distance on the flat
Fitness
×1.00Regular hillwalker — out on hills most months
Pack
+3%7.0 kg — everything over about 5 kg costs time
Day length including stops
4 h 5 minWhat to set a turnaround time from

Worth knowing. Good conditions on a summer trail. Snow, ice, deep mud, darkness, heavy rain or navigation in cloud can each add half again — and they compound. Set a turnaround time from this figure rather than a finish time, and hold to it.

Train for longer daysThe gap between a 4-hour day and an 8-hour one is not fitness in general — it is ascent under load, trained specifically.

How this is worked out

Naismith's rule, 1892

An hour per 5 km, plus an hour per 600 m of ascent. It describes a fit hillwalker in good conditions and is optimistic for most people, which is why a fitness factor sits on top of it here rather than being folded silently into the constants.

Langmuir's descent correction

Naismith ignores descent entirely. Langmuir subtracts 10 minutes per 300 m descended on gentle slopes and adds 10 minutes per 300 m on steep ones. The second half is the one that catches people out — a rough descent is slower than the climb.

Pack and stops

Time is increased by about 1.5% per kilogram over 5 kg, and 10 minutes per moving hour is added for stops. Naismith gives moving time; days are not made of moving time.

What it does not know

Altitude above roughly 2,500 m, snow cover, river crossings, group size and heat all matter and none are inputs here. Treat the answer as a good day, and plan the turnaround for a bad one.

Other tools

  • Trek readinessWhat the trek asks against what you are doing now — the gap, named, and the weeks to close it.
  • Heart-rate training zonesFive zones from your own resting rate, not a formula that ignores your fitness.
  • Daily energy and proteinWhat a day actually costs you, and how much protein supports the training on top.
  • Body compositionBody fat from a tape measure, and the fat-free mass index that actually tracks your training.
  • One-rep maxYour working maximum as a range, from two formulas that disagree — plus the percentages to train off.
  • Interval timerTabata, EMOM, hill repeats — with sound, a wake lock, and a clock that stays right in your pocket.

What would you do with this?

That is the part worth talking through, and the first conversation is free and takes half an hour.

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