Found out the Pacific Crest Trail has more elevation gain than Everest from sea level

I was reading through the PCT planner on the official site last night and saw a stat that blew my mind. The whole trail has over 300,000 feet of cumulative elevation gain. That's like climbing Mount Everest from sea level 10 times over. I've been planning a 2 week section hike near the Sierra Nevada but had no idea the total vertical was that insane. Has anyone else seen this number and felt their legs hurt just thinking about it?

2 comments

2 Comments

miller.susan2d ago

Wait, so my knees should be scared of 300,000 feet of climbing or just the first 14,000?

betty_shah2d ago

Are you actually supposed to pace yourself differently between the first few thousand feet and the last few, @miller.susan? I've heard people say the first 10k is all about finding your rhythm, but then you hit the final stretch and everything changes. My buddy did a 14er last summer and said the last mile felt like crawling through mud. Did you mean one type of climbing hurts more, or that the whole 300k is just one long grind?