Clinometer

Admin Tue Nov 25, 2008 2:57 am

We have a clinometer! Friend and hiker Henry Boas (we'll get him riding soon!), has donated a Suunto Clinometer to the club for use of trail-builders. The point being that trails built to IMBA / BC Parks / US Forest Service specification suggest that the pitch of a sustainable trail should be kept below 10% grade on soft soil, 15-20% on solid ground - and 'eye-balling it' is inaccurate. Read the paragraph below for a tutorial on using a clinometer. You may borrow 'the Club's" clinometer whenever you wish, just ask and sign it out.

Clinometers are used by trail designers during trail layout to read the percent of grade between two points. It has a floating scale internally from which a grade is measured. A clinometer cannot be set to a fixed grade. Hold the clinometer to your eye and with both eyes open, sight parallel with the ground (upslope or downslope) to a target (stick or someone your own height), aiming at a point on the target that is equal to the height of your eye above the ground. Read directly from the percent scale. Percent slope, the relationship between the amount of elevational rise or drop over a horizontal distance. Expressed as a equation: Percent of Grade = Rise/Run x 100 percent. A section of trail 100 feet long with 10 feet of elevation difference would be a 10 percent grade.

Tip: Both eyes must be kept open when sighting through the clinometer.

Clinometer SUUNTOCLINOMETER-2T

Andrew D.