BeigeJournal

The Chambanacon science fiction convention is held the weekend after Thanksgiving at the Hilton hotel in Springfield, Illinois. This hotel is 30 stories tall, an irresistible challenge to stair climbers. I measured a step at the 14th floor level at 193 millimeters. I did not actually measure any others, but there were no noticeable differences in step height on my trips up and down. There are 28 steps from the lowest level to the lobby floor, 19 to the mezzanine, 18 to the mystery floor, then 16 between each floor up to the 22nd. From then on it there are 18 steps between floors up to the 30th, and 32 steps to the roof level, for a total of 597 steps and, at 193mm each, 115 meters, plus or minus a few meters.

I came prepared with heart rate monitor this year. I started off trying to stay below 180, but ended up mostly in the mid 180s with occasional intervals in the 190s. The highest heart rate I’ve ever observed was 201, while bicycling, so I was mostly over 90% of maximum.

The result: 4:36, four seconds faster than last year. That’s just over 0.4 meters per second. At 58kg (a bit more, since I was wearing clothes), that would be 65 kJ (15.5 kcal) at about 240 watts.

Oddly, the basement exercise room has two stair machines in it. The real stairs are more interesting. They are darker and dirtier, however, as is often the case.

One other vertical transportation oddity is that the elevators contain one placard indicating a capacity of 10 persons or 2500 pounds and another placard indicating a maximum occupancy of 9 persons. Perhaps two elevator regulatory agencies are not speaking to each other. The elevators have windows looking out to the outdoors, which is very nice. They are also kept much cleaner and brighter than the stairwells.