Hillscore...what is it?

8 watchers

Fragile Do Not Bend May 2017 6:55pm, 10 May 2017 1,768 posts	0 Fragile Do Not Bend Probably a bug 😅
Gooner Sep 2019 12:06pm, 12 Sep 2019 15,099 posts	0 Gooner Did we ever actually figure this out? 🤔
Gooner Apr 2020 9:52am, 24 Apr 2020 15,191 posts	0 Gooner Fetch... anybody...?
Joophy May 2020 3:52pm, 21 May 2020 5 posts	0 Joophy I was wandering the same thing and came across this thread, so resurrecting in search of an answer. As a test I created a short route that just goes straight up a steep hill and back down again and got: 2.3km 33m ascent 33m decent with hillscore of 2783, which is very high for a short route.
CumbriAndy May 2020 4:04pm, 21 May 2020 1,730 posts	0 CumbriAndy I've a very vague recollection from a very long time ago that it was an attempt to indicate how hilly a route is overall based on some complicated relationship between elevation gain and distance travelled. I can't remember what the parameters were but I think a short route with a big hill would score higher than a longer route with the same hill. The only person with a clue how it's actually computed will be Fetch
HappyG(rrr) May 2020 4:14pm, 21 May 2020 34,870 posts	0 HappyG(rrr) I thought distance travelled came into it too. So lots of ascent over shorter distance (i.e. steeper, not just more uphill) was a higher score. But that's just a vague recollection. The other issue might be Garmin (other GPS / altimeters are available!) logging incorrect ascent / descent and then it being corrected (using elevation correction, which I think uses the heights as known on a map based on your GPS traces, not the elevation ascent descent measured by the device)?
CrispByNature May 2020 12:36pm, 28 May 2020 5 posts	0 CrispByNature I was just wondering exactly what hillscore means - I'm glad I read through all of this thread to find out! I quite like the mystery of it though..
StuH Jun 2023 2:22pm, 20 Jun 2023 4,602 posts	0 StuH Glad to see Hillscore added to the header in training entries.(Would really like to see it listed in the list of entries to compare multiple entries) But it got me thinking, "what does it actually mean?/how is it calculated?" So I searched the forum and it appears it has always been a mystery! fetcheveryone is it a secret??
fetcheveryone Jun 2023 2:36pm, 20 Jun 2023 29,173 posts	0 fetcheveryone Nah But feel free to have a guess first
fetcheveryone Jun 2023 2:38pm, 20 Jun 2023 29,174 posts	0 fetcheveryone NB the figure on routes is actually entirely different to that which you'll see on your training log. I plan to make the former mirror the latter. In fact, I might do that now