Height of ignorance...

Until recently, I'd never really given much thought as to why the Americans have elevation signs at the roadside, but when Pete mentioned how some people suffer from elevation sickness, I decided that perhaps it was time to look into it further.

I'm not a big fan of heights; it's rare enough that I'll work at the top of a step ladder, although if I'm in an enclosed environment such as a plane, car, or a building observation deck then it's never been a problem.

Now I've had a chance to put things in perspective and in my typically geeky fashion, I plotted the elevation of the various stages of our forthcoming trip and although it is exaggerated by our visit to Pikes Peak in the Rocky Mountains but a considerable remainder of the trip is around 3000 feet:



The dotted red line represents the height of Mam Tor in the Peak District which is probably the highest place I've ever been. It doesn't look that significant here at a mere 1696 feet, although it seemed bloody high up at the time, especially when we thought my mate Rob had jumped off. (There was in fact a plateau beyond the point that we'd believed to be the escarpment edge and we'd bottled out before getting that close).

So, I guess I'll find out when I get there and in the meantime, assume that's what people are referring to when they talk about a natural high...


Update: I've been reminded that I have actually been higher than Mam Tor - the Sears Tower Skydeck is 1353 feet high, but 1948 feet above sea level, so the graph has been updated accordingly. I'm sure you were all really concerned...