Why is it easier to climb a mountain with a zigzag trail rather than straight up?

Answer 1

The slope going straight up the hill is greater than the slope of winding around. You drive more distance to decrease the pull of gravity.

Answer 2

Technicaly speaking it is not easier to climb in a zigzag pattern. All that does for you is change the manner in which you apply force. It works just like an incline plane; it requires less strength but more distance to go up in the same amount of latitude. If you don't understand what that means is if you were to go straight up the mountain it would be a relatively shorter distance but it would be much harder. Whereas if you were to go in a zigzag pattern the distance would be relatively longer however it would be much easier. In terms of rock climbing it is much safer to go in a zigzag pattern because you're much less likely to fall. It's simple physics. When you climb straight up you're covering the shortest possible distance to reach a particular height. That means each step you take must lift your body the maximum amount against gravity's pull. When you zig-zag, you're walking a path that runs diagonal to the straight path. You take more steps over a longer distance so the path seems gentler since each step lifts your body less and you expend less effort per step. Overall you've still changed your altitude by the same amount and you've done the same amount of work, but it's in more manageable pieces. To make an analogy, when I garden I can either dig out a full shovelful of soil each time, or take half-shovels. Taking out full shovelsful means I dig fewer times but each is heavier, and pretty soon I'm really tired, not to mention probably starting with a backache, LOL!. But if I take just a half-shovel each time I'm well within my body's lifting capacity. It'll take me twice as many cuts to move the same amount of dirt but I'll be able to keep up the pace longer.