Just to add some fuel to the fire, here are my ascent results at Sulfur
yesterday.

I have a Suunto Advizor and used it to log the ascent distance for each
of two loops yesterday. The watch samples periodically (20 seconds I
think) for the measurement. This means that on an up and down course it
will tend to read low as it ends up with an approximation based on
straight lines. Since the measures are based on air pressure, changes
in air pressure will effect the readings.

For the two loops the watch indicated the following.
1) Ascent 1380 ft, descent 1460 ft
2) Ascent 1550 ft, descent 1710 ft

The greater descent than ascent suggests that the pressure was dropping,
which would give a lower than true value for the ascent and/or greater
than true value for the descent.

My conclusions from this are:
a) Sulphur probably has at least 1400 ft of ascent per 20km loop
b) don't rely on the accuracy of these watches or any conclusions based
on them

John Turner
johnt7@...