Every day of every protocol carries a number from 1 to 5. People ask how we arrive at it, usually after a day they found harder or easier than the sheet promised.
Three measurements
We start with three things logged on the test trips: hours on foot, metres of climbing, and the number of times the group changes vehicle. A day with three hours of walking and two hundred metres of ascent sits around a 3. A day in a train with a bath at the end is a 1, however long the train.
Transfers count more than most people expect. Carrying a bag through a station, finding a platform and waiting in the cold takes more from a group than an extra kilometre on a farm road. Two transfers in one day push the figure up by one.
Why we round down
When a day falls between two numbers, we write the lower one and then change the day until the lower number is true. That usually means cutting a stop. It is easier to add a walk on the spot for people who want one than to take one away from people who are tired.
What the number does not say
Heat and water are not in the figure. A long soak in water at 42 degrees can leave you as tired as a hill. The leaders time the baths and say so out loud, which is the one part of the protocol nobody has yet asked us to remove.