ESTC - handbook

The Edinburgh Ski Touring Club

Navigation

Good navigation is at the centre of mountain safety. Most accidents occur when people have become lost, and are tired and anxious as a result. To help prevent getting lost it is essential to :

• Understand how to orientate the map and use it with a compass to determine direction.
• Be able to interpret contour lines especially in understanding the direction and type of slope in hilly country.
• Be familiar with the special map symbols indicating hazards such as rivers, rock outcrops and cliffs.
• Be able to identify key landscape features on the map and relate them to what you can see.
• Be able to use a compass to take a bearing and be able to walk to a bearing in poor visibility
• Be able to use a compass to take a measure of "aspect of slope" to enable you to identify and differentiate between different slopes from a col or mountain top
• Be able to use map memory to check progress
• Know how to use Naismith's rule to use elapsed time to estimate distance covered
• Use pacing to establish distance on different types of terrain

The Mountaineering Club of Scotland list for quality benchmark for judging training courses cover these points in a ten point list.

Setting the map.

Contour interpretation.

Taking and following a compass bearing (in detail and as a rough guide).

Map scales and measuring distances on the map.

Estimating distance travelled by timing and pacing.

Aspect of slope or direction of linear features.

Grid References.

Symbols.

Aiming Off and Attack Points.

Selection of features on the map which can be identified on the ground to create navigational legs along a route that is both safe and practical to follow.

There are a number of providers of Navigation courses and if you are shaky on navigation, or, like most of us, at sometime or another found ourselves lost, you might like to improve your skills. Glenmore Lodge and the MCofS run courses, as do many other public and private mountaineering organisations.

GPS

GPS is an essential aid to help you locate where you are in bad weather. Most of the arguments against GPS are spurious, but it is better to use GPS as an adjunct to good map and compass work than as a stand alone tool. The argument is out on whether more complex functions of GPS are advantageous or not, but it is undoubtedly useful to be able to enter waypoints for key objectives on a route, or just to be able to return to where you left your tent.

River Crossings after floods

The best rule is not to cross rivers in spate, or indeed where fast running water is above knee height. It is far safer to either wait for the river to subside or to seek a bridge, even if this means walking up or down stream a considerable distance. Good navigation avoids getting trapped with no way back. Ropes and rivers are not a good mix and best avoided.

see: Pete Hill and Suart Johnson(2002)  The Mountain Skills Handbook pp15-18

Rescue

You have no right to rescue. You must assume responsibility for your actions but there are mechanisms for summoning help in most situations and you should know what they are and how to access them in an emergency. If you have a serious accident, or come across someone else in the same position, the first rule of first aid is to seek aid and to let the mountain recue team know where you are. A GPS reference is an excellent way of communicating position but a grid reference is equally acceptable.

http://www.thebmc.co.uk/safety/advice/advice_1.htm
Northern Constabulary

The Mountaineering Council of Scotland " Virtually Hillwalking"

Sportscotland have published a CD rom called 'Virtually Hillwalking' which teaches the basics of navigation on the hill. Following the course involves a 'virtual hillwalk' on the munro Dreish. It features exercises and examples showing basic navigation techniques, and a 3D virtual world to help the user relate a 2D map to the real world it represents. The program includes a printable OS map of the hill and there are 360° panoramas of the view at various stages of the ascent.Once you get used to the software and manipulating virtual reality it allows you to learn and practice the basic skills, this is a excellent resource for the computer literate. It allows you to practice interpreting the map and checking your interpretation with panoramas and simulations of the real thing. This is an extremely sophisticated tool for skills acquisition.
full info on the sportscotland website

MCoS also offer
Glen Arna home study navigation course

 

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