please empty your brain below
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I can tell you I've been to the highest (Standedge Tunnel, 645' above sea level)and lowest (Holme Fen 9') below sea level) places on the British navigable inland waterways system.
Sarah | Homepage | 27.01.21 - 7:31 a.m. | #
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An interesting post, and a good illustration of the complete mess our measurements system is in. Everything is metric except the heights of flights!
Tim W | 27.01.21 - 7:36 a.m. | #
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My BMW sat nav gives altitude in Yards if you select Miles for distance.
Richard | 27.01.21 - 7:46 a.m. | #
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hill-bagging.co.uk/mountaindetails tells me that the Beckton Alps are 35m high.
Martin | 27.01.21 - 8:17 a.m. | #
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Now if you wanted the IMPRESSION of height, you could try the 'Walthamstow Alps'!
Brian | 27.01.21 - 8:23 a.m. | #
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Don't forget Concorde, cruising altitude around 56000ft/10.6 miles, so there will be a small (and diminishing) number of 'normal' people who've gone higher.
Still Anon | 27.01.21 - 8:24 a.m. | #
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Australia, Mount Hotham, 1320 metres.
Anywhere, 1660 metres on the edge of Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada.
Highest building from ground level, Eureka Tower, Melbourne at just short of 300 metres.
Andrew | Homepage | 27.01.21 - 8:27 a.m. | #
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We did travel last year, in the three gaps when you could, but to norfolk and the netherlands (!) so probably about 200m on Offas Dyke around Tintern
peter | 27.01.21 - 8:34 a.m. | #
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I recommend hiking at high altitude (>2500m) at least once. It’s a fascinating experience.
Jimmy | 27.01.21 - 8:35 a.m. | #
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Jungfraujoch railway station - 3,454m. Hard to breathe, though.
Petex | 27.01.21 - 9:00 a.m. | #
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Some have claimed the viewing platform at Jungfraujoch. I think I walked up to there but there was a horrible blizzard on the day so saw nothing. I think my lowest point this year is still more than DGs maximum...
davews | 27.01.21 - 9:05 a.m. | #
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Chanced upon this recently:-
www.peakfinder.org
Great for solving all those peak top arguments or just armchair viewing.
Lorenzo | 27.01.21 - 9:08 a.m. | #
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The Hawthorns, West Bromwich Albion’s home ground, is the highest in the country. It is about 550 feet above sea level
As a fan, I have visited it many times. Given their home performances this season, including last night, perhaps the club should provide the players with a number of oxygen cylinders instead of the proverbial wet sponge or medical spray!
Kenneth Morton | 27.01.21 - 9:11 a.m. | #
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I am one of those who have been over 60,000ft in Concorde. And my concertina may be the only one that has travelled supersonically.
Mike Roberts | 27.01.21 - 9:18 a.m. | #
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My education was complete before metrication began so I like distances to be expressed in yards and heights in feet.
David Cook | 27.01.21 - 9:48 a.m. | #
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Interesting post.
Here's another angle on it...
What is the highest point reached by any London bus route?
For Dublin the highest is route 44B reaching 1,026ft (the only route to go beyond 1,000).
Really enjoy the blog, amazed at your productivity in posting daily!!
dg writes: The 246 crosses London's highest point.
Steve Conway | 27.01.21 - 9:50 a.m. | #
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On the subject of altitude, the astronauts/cosmonauts on orbiting spacecraft would significantly beat any altitudes achieved by aircraft but at what point would you stop measuring altitude in space flight? When did missions to the Moon or Mars stop using altitude from their take off from Earth and start measuring from their landing point on their destination?
Phil | 27.01.21 - 10:12 a.m. | #
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The absolute altitude record from the Earth's surface was achieved by the Apollo 13 astronauts, whose minimum-energy return-to-Earth orbit took them 254 miles above the moon's surface (much higher than the lunar orbits the more successful missions manoevred themselves into) and 400,171 km from Earth.
timbo | 27.01.21 - 11:49 a.m. | #
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Nice post, DG. If you want to scale the hights of Swindon on your next visit, I suggest a walk to the Old Town, about a mile from the station and, as the name suggests, the location of the original hill-settlement, and oldest part of town. The park known as "Town Gardens" is especially pleasant.
dg writes: been, thanks.
cau1khead | 27.01.21 - 11:55 a.m. | #
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Looking forward to a bit of data analysis on this!
Harry | Homepage | 27.01.21 - 1:57 p.m. | #
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Interesting post, thank you. Looking at buildings in different countries one has to take into consideration that many countries have different zero levels. That's completely irrelevant for your post, of course, but this example happened to come to mind.
R. | 27.01.21 - 2:21 p.m. | #
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My family and I took the cableway from Chamonix to the Aiguille du Midi, 3842 meters. My sons have since trekked a bit higher to the summit of Mount Kinabalu, 4095 meters.
JohnC | 27.01.21 - 3:54 p.m. | #
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How much is all of it in feet?
M | 27.01.21 - 3:54 p.m. | #
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I went as far as the planning application for my workplace to find out the height of my office floor AOD. I had to estimate the suspended flooring, but I think that Shernhall street pips it by a matter of centimetres.
martin | 27.01.21 - 3:57 p.m. | #
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What an interesting challenge, and it allowed me to review my local geography in more detail. I initially thought that my final destination was more elevated but I mas wrong by over 10m. Life is full of ups and downs. Historically, I have walked up Ben Nevis which was exhilarating and I recommend it to everyone who is able to.
Argh, and now I find from reading later comments that I too have been absolutely higher having visited Mount Teide - the cable car goes to 3,555m (you now need to obtain a free permit to visit the actual top - the remaining 160m or so and I can't remember if I did this when I was there many years ago).
Ken | 27.01.21 - 4:25 p.m. | #
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Hills seem much smaller these days, now that they are measured in metres rather than in feet.
Tony (Somerset) | 27.01.21 - 4:50 p.m. | #
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Thank you for that, timbo. I believe they used a ‘slingshot’ technique to allow them to return safely to Earth so the wide swing around the Moon would make sense, but I would refer to 400,171km as distance from Earth rather than altitude. Perhaps there is a point at which altitude becomes distance from Earth.
Phil | 27.01.21 - 8:24 p.m. | #
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Ha, this kind of "altitude record" stuff is something I really enjoy. I've actually kept a record of all my altitude records over time. 3250m (2008), 4506m (2011), 5050m (2012), 5286m (2019-present). One commonality is that none of these were an actual mountain peak - they were all halfway up where I then gave up. Hiking at >4000m is a pain because you have to catch your breath every 2 steps. Walking feels like sprinting and you're constantly dizzy.
M | 27.01.21 - 9:29 p.m. | #
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For my 2021 record, I used Google Earth to trace the route of short nearby errands. That appears to give the height of whatever the satellite sees, so need to avoid clicking on tree tops (unless one has climbed the relevant trees).
Malcolm of Kent | 27.01.21 - 10:45 p.m. | #
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An alternative measure is that from the centre of the earth - which as the earth is not spherical means that 'sea level' is not equidistant from the earth's centre. So while Everest is the world's highest mountain (from sea level), the summit of Chimborazo (in Ecuador) is furthest from the centre of the earth.
GPS satellite co-ordinates include a distance from the Earth's centre: from this an 'altitude' above the ellipsoid GPS uses (its model of the earth can be calculated and I believe that when GPS gives a 'height above sea level, this is what it actually is. But that level is not the same as that used by the OS (which uses a different ellipsoid, and an actually measured 'local' sea level for Britain: which is why GPS and OS maps give different heights for where I live.
Jeremy GH | 28.01.21 - 12:55 a.m. | #
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I've been lucky enough to stand at the top of Mont Fort, in Switzerland, which is 3,328m – and not have to hike a step to get up, it being accessible through ski lifts and cable cars right to the top. Beautiful place.
Rob Miller | Homepage | 28.01.21 - 11:17 a.m. | #
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A cave in Sierra de Las Nieves, Andulucia (think it was Sima GESM). I got down to about -600m but it continues to -1000m.
kev | 28.01.21 - 12:45 p.m. | #
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The poster who was driving around Mt Lassen and thought it was around 11,000 feet was off by a bit. The highest pass on that road is around 8,000 feet. So about 2500M. I will confirm that over 6000 feet altitude cars tuned to run at sea level will start huffing and puffing at bit. Always happens when going over passes in the Sierras.
jmc | 28.01.21 - 2:49 p.m. | #
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Just been reading back on this and saw your comments on The Shard/Westerham Heights
I'd like to propose that the radio mast at Crystal Palace might beat both of these - it's not the tallest structure, and it's not on the highest ground, but between the two I reckon it stands a chance...
the orange one | 04.02.21 - 1:25 p.m. | #
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