I believe those that meet certain requirements should be able to have the drone completely unlocked.  In the US, a 107 license from the FAA should unlock it because violations subject you to severe federal penalties.  Like a licensed pilot flies aircraft without all these lockouts, the same should be true of drones flown by licensed individuals.  This would eliminate all the many issues we are seeing with legitimate flights being blocked, possibly costing commercial users real money or driving them to other manufacturers.  
I understand the restrictions to prevent abuse by hobbyists or the ignorant. Give the pros (federally licensed) the freedom to use their drones as needed...let the government regulate them as licensed individuals.
...and no, I do not have a 107 license, yet.I am a licensed SEL and Glider pilot.

I am having the same problem. Staying up in some mountains in Sri Lanka and I figured I would bring my drone. The camp site in deep in a valley though, and to get a shot of the sunset I have to fly my phantom 4 pro to the top of the first peak, I can even come close. The moutain is around 2,500 ft above my camp, and when I am just feet off the ground at 1,640 ft above my camp (yet still just feet from the mountain side) , I am stopped. I know my drone has what it takes to get to the top, and I am too scared to land it on a rock and take back off along the moutainside to get around this, so is there a way the altitude can be measured from the ground below the drone rather than from the take off point? DJI really needs to fix this. I paid a lot of money for my drone, this is the fourth DJI product i've bought in the past five years and as much as I love my phantom, this is kinda annoying that I can get the shot I want.

tommyhughes2001 Posted at 2-3 03:49
I am having the same problem. Staying up in some mountains in Sri Lanka and I figured I would bring my drone. The camp site in deep in a valley though, and to get a shot of the sunset I have to fly my phantom 4 pro to the top of the first peak, I can even come close. The moutain is around 2,500 ft above my camp, and when I am just feet off the ground at 1,640 ft above my camp (yet still just feet from the mountain side) , I am stopped. I know my drone has what it takes to get to the top, and I am too scared to land it on a rock and take back off along the moutainside to get around this, so is there a way the altitude can be measured from the ground below the drone rather than from the take off point? DJI really needs to fix this. I paid a lot of money for my drone, this is the fourth DJI product i've bought in the past five years and as much as I love my phantom, this is kinda annoying that I can get the shot I want.

I don't believe there is a way to get around the 500 meter limit other than what you described - not at this time at least - and not with either of your aircrafts.  I think some day they might address this but that doesn't help now.  What you could do - next time - is get yourself a Phantom 2 Vision+.  There are no height limits with any of the P2 or earlier Phantoms.  

Good luck.

Note,  bunny hopping up the mountain has its risks, before i changed to FCC mode (CE country), i tried landing at around 100m away from me along the track, its line of sight, so no hills, bumps, valleys etc, it landed fine,a s you would expect, but as soon as it was on the ground, i lost visual signal, then remote signal, that is prob down to the antenna in the legs i believe? So, unless you are prepared to take a trek, prob a day out of your way, its not worth the risk even if the signal seems find a foot above the ground, i wont ever risk it, dont get me wrong, my will now land and take off in that same spot now im in FCC mode, its the fact that i know that once it lands, that signal is deffo diminished somewhat.