Hey /out/, I hope this is the right place to ask this: What is a reasonable speed for movement through a heavy blizzard through mountainous terrain, assuming peak human capabilities and ideal equipment? Need to know it for a piece of fiction.
Thanks in advance.
As fast as your crocs may carry you.
>>753339
Good question OP. As you probably surmised, it is a lot of work trudging through snow for any significant distance for any extended period of time. Physical energy expenditure wise, I mean.
The increase in your energy expenditure is obviously proportional to snow depth and the condition of the snow as well as steepness, roughness of terrain, obviously. Is it fresh, light and fluffy snow? or is it hard and crusty? or deep and densely packed?
Some snow you can walk over the top of even when its deep. Most snow you're sinking in with almost every step and of course this makes more work.
Visibility is partly an issue, due to the need to maintain your sense of direction, to maintain your desired course. This takes, stopping when possible to view for landmarks, granted an actual constant blizzards affords near zero visibility.
So you must consider how are you directioning, if at all? following some sort of natural topographical contour definition on the landscape?
I would say you have to be using at least a compass, having beforehand laid out you general route and waypoints (including landmarks to keep you on the right track). Handheld GPS would be extremely helpful and would not only allow you to maintain maximum possible physical speed of travel, but ensure you won't get lost.
A word of warning, in extreme cold temperatures, your electronics do fail. even those that are "rated" to operate in sub-zero climates.
I have, at times, hiked all day through near blizzard conditions in the northern midwest. Watching for hazards in the ground, stopping to look around while trying to find a safe foot route, even if it's only for the next 15 meters or less, this all takes up a lot of time.
I'm going to give a ballpark estimate of say, 1 mph as a rough average. tios depends alot on how much gear you're carrying and what your purpose is. Are you on a backpacking trip with 40 pounds of backpacking gear?
Or did you just jump out of a plane with spec ops weapons?
>>753361
>1 mph
even this maybe over optimistic
0.5 mph could easily be a max speed under certain conditions.
>>753361
Thank you, that was exactly what I was looking for and is incredibly helpful.
>>753361
>Good question OP. As you probably surmised, it is a lot of work trudging through snow for any significant distance for any extended period of time. Physical energy expenditure wise, I mean.
>The increase in your energy expenditure is obviously proportional to snow depth and the condition of the snow as well as steepness, roughness of terrain, obviously. Is it fresh, light and fluffy snow? or is it hard and crusty? or deep and densely packed?
How much would snowshoes help with that? That's what they are made for, right?
>>753339
"mountainous terrain" is too wide m8. Against wind or with it? You are carrying snowshoes, skis or none? Answering your question is impossible without knowing where does this takes place at least. You could even be faster than the random guy on foot without a blizzard if you have skis, favorable wind in the terrain in your pic.
Depends entirely how much build up there is. I've been hiking a mountain in heavy snow conditions. It had just started so there wasn't much, maybe 6 inches when I was coming down. Also depends what side of the mountain you're on. Speed wasn't too terrible. There was a crazy dude trailrunning actually. If it had been build up we'd go slower, maybe half usual speed. I will say everyone in our group slipped at some point, one guy just WENT for 30 or 50 yards. Also most people's boots got soaked. Luckily I had multiple pairs of wool socks.
>>753339
Do you know the area (terrain, hazards, location relative to shelter/landmarks)?
Group management/dynamics - How well are the members of the team working together? Is there a "leader" who's doing a good job, or is it a clusterfuck with people fighting among each other and wandering off? Is the group able to hold a steady pace, or do you have to stop/regroup, or go chase someone down?
Any medical concerns... hypothermia (which affects reasoning as well as the obvious physical issues)? Fatigue?
On a sled, knowing the area and the hazards (open water/holes, rocks/stumps, avalanche conditions/terrain), and with a good group... 5-10m/h is a reasonable speed. A group of decent riders can stay on each other enough to keep the taillight of the rider in front of you in sight, and as long as the lead guy knows where he's going then you just keep riding.
Tools like GPS are a navigation aid, not a replacement for common sense. Know their limitations.
It sucks riding in that shit though. Not fun. >Pic related.
>>753339
9 miles mostly with 4700' net elevation gain took me 9 hours last winter. Pack was about 25 pounds. This was on snowshoes through really deep, soft powder. Several miles of bushwhacking, no actual climbing but still steep terrain. I'm probably in a bit above average shape. The really rough parts (bushwhacking uphill) were under 0.5 mph.
>>753385
snow shoes could be incredibly helpful. though i found that using them without prior experience or tutoring was somewhat challenging for me.
Also the varying depth and condition of the snow / terrain i was traversing made it so, every so often it was easier to take them off and walk without them.
Definitely be advisable to have along if you know you're going to be in that type of climate, but their usefulness can be hit and miss depending on a lot of things as mentioned
>>753385
You still sink in a lot if the snow isn't very dense. They're not magic.
>>753487
>walking in snowshoes
It's a totally different kind of walking and can be very energy consuming.
try loosely attaching a couple of 24" diameter frying pans to you feet, then go try and climb some stairs
