Entering Elevation:

Explantion of Climbing and Backpacking Elevation Gain
ePeakRegister treats Climbing Elevation as the elevation gained on a day when at least one peak is climbed, and Backpacking Elevation as the elevation gained on a day when no peak is climbed, and typically on an approach to the peak with a backpack.  Backpacking Elevation is not intended to represent any elevation gained where you literally carried a backpack.

The two categories of elevation allow ePeakRegister to provide accurate daily, monthly, and annual summaries for elevation.  The typical PPR sort displays an elevation associated with a peak (see example 2 at PPR Examples), and the elevation shown for each peak represents the total elevation of the trip, including any backpacking elevation that resulted from a backpack the day before the climb of the peak.  The backpacking elevation entered for any peak is also included in any monthly or annual elevation summary (see example 1 at Summary Examples ).

Example 1 - Entering Elevation for a Peak Climb with a Backpack
A peak is climbed over two days, with a 4-mile, 1000’ backpack from the trailhead to camp the first day.  The second day involves a 6-mile, 3000’ roundtrip climb from the camp to the peak and a 4-mile backpack to return to the trailhead.  For ePeakRegister to provide accurate mileage and elevation summaries, enter the Climbing Elevation as 3000 and the Backpacking Elevation as 1000.

Explantion of Climbing and Return Elevations
In addition to providing daily, monthly and annual elevation summaries, ePeakRegister automatically calculates the average rate of ascent (feet/hour) if you enter the elevation gain and the start and summit times of the climb.  On some hikes, the total elevation of a climb includes some elevation gained that occurs after reaching the summit and on the return to the trailhead.  The elevation gained in returning to the trailhead is included in the elevation summaries, but not in the calculation of the rate of ascent.  When the Climbing and Return  Elevations are entered for a trip when more than one peak is climbed, divide the total elevation gain into discrete values and only enter each value once. 

Finally, to eliminate the need to calculate Climbing, Backpacking and Return Elevations, one can enter the relevant elevations involved in the climb and allow ePeakRegister to calculate the climbing, backpacking and return elevation gains. 

Example 2 - Entering the Elevations for One Peak with Elevation Gained on the Return to the Trailhead
A peak climb starts with a descent of 500' to a valley floor before a 3000' elevation gain from the valley floor to the summit.  Enter the Climbing Elevation as 3000 and the Return Elevation as 500.

Example 3 - Entering the Elevations for Two Peaks Climbed in One Day
Two peaks are climbed with a total elevation gain of 5000' that involves 3500' of climbing to reach the first summit, 1000' of climbing to reach the second summit from the saddle between the first and second peaks, and 500' of climbing to return to the trailhead.  When signing the ePeakRegister of the first peak, enter 3500 as the Climbing Elevation and 500 as the Return Elevation.  When signing the ePeakRegister of the second peak, enter 1000 as the Climbing Elevation and leave the Return Elevation field blank.  If the Return Elevation is entered twice for the two peaks, any daily, monthly and annual elevation summary will be erroneous by 500.

Example 4 – Using ePeakRegister to Calculate Elevation Gains
A climb starts at the trailhead of 11,000’, descends to a valley floor at 10,500’, and climbs to the summit at 14,000’.  Instead of calculating the elevation gains to be entered as the Climbing and Return Elevations, one can enter 14000 as the “Summit (High) Elevation” field, 10500 for the “Trailhead, Camp or Valley (Low) Elevation” field, 11000 as the “1a) High Elevation” field, and 10500 as the “1b) Low Elevation” field.  Multiple elevation fields are provide in the event a climb involves many ascents and descents.  If you have more than three cases, sorry, but you must sum the secondary elevations yourself and enter the result in the "secondary elevation" field.

To summarize:

Climbing Elevation:  All elevation gained when climbing the peak that should be considered when calculating the rate of ascent. 

Return Elevation:  All elevation gained on a day a peak is climbed, but should not be considered when calculating the rate of ascent.