Slope angle map: how steep, and which way it faces

How steep the ground is, which way every slope faces, and contour lines, over any Colorado unit. Then ask the map to shade only the ground that fits what you are looking for.

Open the slope map All the map does

What it shows

• Slope in colour. Pale yellow is nearly flat and brown is very steep, in steps of about ten degrees, with a slider for how strong the tint is.
• Which way it faces. A colour for each direction. North-facing slopes hold shade and snow longest; south-facing slopes get the most sun.
• Contour lines, close together where the ground is steep.
• Find terrain. Say how steep, which way it faces, how high, how big a patch and how far from a road, and the map shades the ground on screen that fits.
• Climb for a walk. Draw a route and the map gives the feet climbed and a walking time.
• 3D. Tilt and turn the same map over the real shape of the ground.

What slope is good for

• Judging a walk honestly. A mile across a 30 degree side hill is not a mile on a bench. Look at the slope between the truck and the spot, not only the distance.
• Judging a pack-out. The way out with meat is the part of the day that goes wrong. The pack-out calculator puts a number of trips and hours on it.
• Finding flat ground in steep country: benches, saddles and the heads of basins show as pale patches among the brown.

The map does not tell you where an animal is. It shows the shape of the ground, and you decide what that shape means.

Where it comes from

Slope, the direction a slope faces and contours: U.S. Geological Survey elevation (3DEP). It is the bare ground: trees, deadfall, cliffs too small for the survey and snow are not in it.