Hey outwhere, when viewed head-on, a slope often looks steeper than it really is. This is a common optical illusion. I think it has to do with perspective and foreshortening or quite possibly proprioceptive error due to biased frontal tendencies resulting in distorted retrograde phase correction.
Since I'm a slope enthusiast, I will now supply some FUN facts about slope angles.
- The slope angle in the Bowl is somewhere around 35-40°.
- I've measured quite a few local snow slopes and most tend to be around 40°. Anything steeper tends to go on for only a short distance. I'd really like to find a 60° slope someday.
- An avalanche can generally happen on slopes ranging from 30-50° but the optimal angle is 35-45°. A lot of slab avalanches happen at 37-38°.
- Most building codes limit stairs to a slope angle of 20-38°.
- The "
grade" of a slope in percent is the rise divided by the run (x100).
- So a 45° slope has a grade of 100%.
- The steepest roads in the world have a grade of around 32-35% (~18°).
- Most hikers consider a vertical gain of 1000 ft per mile to be pretty steep. But this is only equal to a slope angle of 10° or a grade of 18%.
- A 40° snow slope is equal to a gain of 4430 ft per mile!
- Most steep mountain slopes (other than rock faces) end up being around 35-45° because of the
angle of repose. This is the angle where stuff will pile up and not slide down.
- The windows keystroke for degrees is alt+0176.