Navigation

[This page will be updated throughout January 2007]

Ironically this is one of the few skills that most people never seem to bother to learn. This might be because they think it is difficult or it might be because they always travel in a group and so it is someone else's problem.

There is a fundamental issue with navigation. If you cannot do it then you can very easily find yourself in a mess - in a place that you don't know with no idea of how to plan a route to safety.

If like me you are a solo walker then good navigation skills are essential.

If you like camping in wild places then you should add night navigation to your list of essentials. At night mountains can be nasty dangerous places and if you have to abandon a campsite you will be doing so under hostile conditions. You must therefore be able to navigate when you have poor visibility, bad weather and potentially dangerous ground.

OK, with all the doom-mongering out of the way I am going to concentrate on practical navigation that works in the hills regardless of the weather.

Certain skills such as sighting and triangulation in practice are not used. If you have sufficient visibility that you can identify and sight off 3 landmarks then there is usually no point. You can find a general direction to head in. Sighting will only identify your position within a few 100 metres anyway.

In the mountains (and moorland) we are going to navigate in general using a map and compass and in particular using terrain features.

I will write about GPSes (I own one) but will save that to last. Instead I want to concentrate on the essential skills.

First things first is to recognise the tools of the trade. Each one below is a link that explains basic usage.

• Compass (a Silva Type 4)
• Map (1:50,000 scale)
• GPS

Once you are familiar with the basic tools it will be possible to start using these tools to build skills. A GPS may allow you to not worry about compass skills but it will not allow you to avoid map skills. A GPS still requires a map even if you have programmed it from a digital map...

Even if you are a huge fan of GPS's you need to be aware that GPS's do not bounce very well and can suffer from flat batteries. Therefore owning a GPS does not excuse you from knowing how to navigate.

Below are the skills that you need:

• Read a map and recognise key features such as cliffs.
• Use a compass to follow a bearing.
• Measure time and distance travelled.
• Use a map and compass to create a grid reference.
• Use a map and compass to plot a route (bearing and distance) between two points.
• Spiral Search - Find a landmark that is hidden by terrain or fog
• Navigation errors - how good are you at following a compass bearing?
• Route planning
• Escape-route planning

Not all of these skills will be essential. A lot depends on the type of walking that you do and the type of equipment (Map, Compass GPS) that you are using. The skills above (with practice and experience and additional skills) should allow you to navigate just about anywhere in any conditions but that is not the type of walking that many people do. Let's then look at a couple of different styles of navigation that are in use.

Navigation Style - The Path Master

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Navigation Style - The Gadget Man

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Navigation Style - The Lone Ranger

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