How are you measuring slope angle?

[lisamamot]

https://poleclinometer.com/

I have that sitting on my dining table! Need to get it on my pole - it will be much more effective there, lol.

 

[markjs]

The problem with that in the backcountry is if you misjudge by a couple of degrees because of powder fever, group dynamics, etc. you could be buried in a slide. This is the backcountry forum after all.

Agree. Years ago I was with a group up at the Tamarack area near Mt Rose and there was 12"+ of new and we decided to dig a pit. The sphincter was concerned about conditions and then 2 splitboarders showed up, looked down slope and just jumped in, the last words heard were "Fuuuuck, freshies!" We were discussing the likelihood of something bad happening the whole time they were headed down slope. Turned out to be a great day, but it easily could have turned in to something else entirely.

Moral: The sphincter is not always a good judge of risk...and group think and testosterone can make any risk minor...

 

[nemesis256]

https://poleclinometer.com/

This! By far the quickest and easiest. Forget about taking your phone out, taking gloves off, etc.

 

[bbinder]

I only do rough measurements utilizing my eye balls and sphincter muscle. The well known Grump pucker coefficient.

I do the same thing. Well, actually, I use the Binder P C. And then I add 10 degrees so I feel better about skiing or not skiing the slope.

 

[Slim]

I have the pole Clinometer.
I also have the “speaking” Clinometer app on my iPhone, and my mirror compass has a Clinometer.

Pole Clinometer meter, of course the quickest, easiest to use. That’s already 80% of the battle won right there. But, not very precise reading.

Phone is easy to see/hear precise degrees, and easier to sight, but needs bare hands and not to much glare.

I carry the Compas in my waistbelt pocket, so can grab it super easy and quick, gloves can stay on. (Perhaps due to my poor eye sight) not as easy to sight or read exact numbers as the phone.

So usually, I do pole Clinometer first. If it is at all close to critical, or if I have a bit more time, I’ll use phone or compas depending on glove/sun/distance to target.

I know, “don’t overpack” but the app and Clinometer weigh nothing, and the compass only a tiny bit, and backs up my phone for both angle measure te and other navigation.

 

[Noodler]

I have the pole Clinometer.
I also have the “speaking” Clinometer app on my iPhone, and my mirror compass has a Clinometer.

Pole Clinometer meter, of course the quickest, easiest to use. That’s already 80% of the battle won right there. But, not very precise reading.

Phone is easy to see/hear precise degrees, and easier to sight, but needs bare hands and not to much glare.

I carry the Compas in my waistbelt pocket, so can grab it super easy and quick, gloves can stay on. (Perhaps due to my poor eye sight) not as easy to sight or read exact numbers as the phone.

So usually, I do pole Clinometer first. If it is at all close to critical, or if I have a bit more time, I’ll use phone or compas depending on glove/sun/distance to target.

I know, “don’t overpack” but the app and Clinometer weigh nothing, and the compass only a tiny bit, and backs up my phone for both angle measure te and other navigation.

Thanks. Exactly what I was looking for when I started the thread.

 

[pchewn]

Before reporting myself i was going to edit to ask if a phone reports 50 mph on a 45 degree slope, is the skier actually traveling 100 mph over the snow?

No, it would be 70.7 MPH

50 ÷ cos(45) = 70.7

 

[KenX]

I use one of these:

30° PLUS XT – PIEPS GmbH

www.pieps.com

always on the pole and very accurate (I've tested it ), you can lay the pole on the slope if it's consistent, sight down it or sight across it to the side of the slope

 

[François Pugh]

No, it would be 70.7 MPH

50 ÷ cos(45) = 70.7

Correct. 60 degrees would nab you double the indicated speed.

 

[Ken_R]

Measuring slope angle is important for backcountry, otherwise I don’t. Our AIARE 1 instructor used a clinometer and encouraged us to have one. Can’t always rely on your phone.

Yeah, I always have a small one on my hip pocket. Generally if you have doubts about a slope its probably too steep. But it is cool to go around measuring slopes to get to know the terrain and to calibrate your eyeball measurements.

 

[Wilhelmson]

No, it would be 70.7 MPH

50 ÷ cos(45) = 70.7

Haha good catch.

 

[SSSdave]

Decades ago it was common to read commentary in ski magazines significantly over estimating slope gradients. Especially by those skiing steeper inbound resort slopes. In some minds, anything less than 45 degrees was unworthy to admit. When the Internet rose in the late 90's, that carried into early skiing web communities like the notorious powdermag dot com. Such blabberings came to an end when skiers found out how easily others could embarrass them with reality. As a backpacker interested in understanding where off trail routes were possible, I'd long figured out how to use USGS 7.5m topographic maps along with a steel rule with 1/100 inch gradiations plus basic trigonometry to evaluate how steep slopes were.

Personally like civil engineers, I much prefer to use percent grade to measure slopes (vertical height / horizontal distance) that is roughly about twice numerically the same in degrees though average persons tend to only understand the latter and that itself is a considerable source of confusion.

 

[Bill Miles]

I don't ski anywhere where I need to worry about slope for avalanche conditions. I used to like to use hillmap.com to compare different runs, but it has been nonfunctional for a long time now.

 

[lisamamot]

Yeah, I always have a small one on my hip pocket. Generally if you have doubts about a slope its probably too steep. But it is cool to go around measuring slopes to get to know the terrain and to calibrate your eyeball measurements.

I wouldn’t measure to decide if I felt comfortable skiing the pitch. Knowing slope angle is an important component of assessing avalanche risk.

 

[Slim]

The problem with that in the backcountry is if you misjudge by a couple of degrees because of powder fever, group dynamics, etc. you could be buried in a slide. This is the backcountry forum after all.

Agreed. This forum is great in many ways. One of them is that it has a large number of sub forums.
So let’s keep the discussion only about the subject at hand. (In this case, measuring slope angle in the BACKCOUNTRY, to assess avalanche risk).
If someon wants to discuss how to measure INBOUNDS slopes, let’s make a new thread in the appropriate sub forum. That is a very different subject.

Thanks!

 

[slow-line-fast]

The ski pole triangle is a quick way to roughly measure the slope that you are standing on. At 2:00 in this video (also shows other methods):