Eye Height

[Stu]

Hi,
I use this meathod if I wish to go up/down a number of contour intervals [10m] when contouring, or if the slope is too steep to accuratly pace etc
My eye height is approx 1.5m..so 6 eye heights and about a waist height is 10m.
Going up slope, I look straight at the slope and choose a stering mark [microfeature in Lyle's book] ie stone/rock, clump of grass etc then walk up slope till it is at my feet, and do this 6 times and about a meter which equals a 10m contour interval. If the slope is to steep to walk straight up then I choose stering marks alternatively to the left and right and zig-zag up the slope, if you pick the same distance [left/right] then you can also keep the same direction.
Going down slope, I reverse the process ie pick a stering mark at my feet and walk down untill it is level with my eyes. this is a bit more involved as you have to keep looking back untill you are at the correct level
I find that this works well in practice and is far more accurate than pacing as the slope get steeper
Hope this helps someone
regards
Stu

[Stu]

PS
Can be practiced on a flight of stairs

[Egg]

Looks an interesting one Stu...

Going to have a go at it on my stairs and see what happens.

[woutersch]

From my experience with teaching contour lines: people have a very bad perception of horizontality in hilly country. I would not use this method. I would rely on the contour lines on my map and read them well.