Navigating finding your way

Let’s start with a quote.

“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it”

This now well-known phrase, probably a bastardised version of George Santayana’s ‘those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’, is much overused, and often misapplied. It is used frequently when someone wants to sound sage. One area, though, where the quote really is appropriate is when applied to mountain rescue.

But let’s start with an important caveat. Mountain Rescue teams are, for me, the most selfless, brave, and good-natured group of people one could possibly hope to find. They give their time up both voluntarily and willingly to rescue those of us who get into bother. For that they deserve our praise and thanks, not to mention our donations. I hope I’ve made that abundantly clear.

For more years now than I can remember, news stories about feckless hillwalkers have festooned the pages of newspapers and websites. Specifically, tales of hillwalkers who have become lost and need rescuing are almost ubiquitous.

(On a slight tangent here before dealing with the substantive issue, a worrying trend I’ve noticed in recent years is the increasing tendency for Mountain Rescue spokespeople to have a pop at the people they’re rescuing. This is completely inappropriate in my view. When a member of the public reads such criticism in national press it may very well deter them from making an emergency call if they are caught out and in genuine need. It’s easy to imagine someone being afraid that they’re wasting the emergency services’ time, terrified of appearing in the Daily Record as that person who put others’ lives at risk. Mountain Rescue teams are made up of volunteers who do not have to be there. Nobody is forcing them. If you sign up to be in Mountain Rescue one of the conditions should be that you do it without passing judgment on who you’re rescuing, no matter how frustrating that may be.)

I digress.

Many of the people who need to be rescued from the hills get into difficulty either because they’ve become lost, have fallen, broken a bone, twisted an ankle, or a combination of all these and other factors. Such instances, thankfully, are relatively rare. We’ve all read stories about novice hillwalkers navigating using Google or Apple Maps when trying to walk off the Cairngorms in thick mist. All the major news channels, as well as the specialist outdoors websites, have carried stories about these folks being rescued. In the accompanying statements, almost always, the spokesperson intones the usual declaration about carrying a map and compass and knowing how to use them. Each time I read such statements I shake my head at the recidivism. I don’t know who needs to hear this, but here’s my take:

Most. People. Aren’t. Going. To. Learn. To. Use. A. Map. And. Compass.

Sorry to break this to people, but do you really think Johnny and Jane, very occasional hillwalkers from Glasgow, who on a whim decide it’s a nice day to ‘do a Munro’ are going to heed the map-and-compass advice? Not a chance. I doubt, even, that the average hobby Munro-bagger carries a map and compass or knows how to use them. I’m perfectly willing to accept I could be wrong, but I don’t think I am.

Knowing how to navigate using a map and compass takes time. And though it is undoubtedly time well spent, we’re fooling ourselves if we think most hillwalking punters are going to do it. The sooner we accept this the sooner we can give people like this advice that they can use, and which is more likely to save them from harm — and by extension save mountain rescue teams unnecessary call-outs.

I am not saying that we shouldn’t advise people to use traditional navigation aids, merely that much more focus and attention should be put into advising people of the benefits of modern technology and applications and how to use them.

For years now I’ve been using OutdoorsGPS, which has both an excellent iOS app and web-based platform. For a modest annual fee I can download every square inch of Britain in 1:25k format, so that I don’t have to rely on 4G when out and about. I can also upload routes onto the app so that I can literally follow a track if I have to. The app even shows me the direction I’m facing should I need to. On top of that, the app uses GPS technology so that I don’t need mobile reception to know where I am.

Virtually every person who goes hillwalking now carries a mobile phone and knows how to use it. If each of these people, who will almost certainly be tech savvy, downloaded this or a similar app and then the corresponding map and track, getting lost on the hill would be all-but-eliminated. It is this area that I believe much more focus should be put into by advisory bodies and agencies. And to be fair to Mountaineering Scotland they do devote a page to this sort of thing. However, I think much more could and should be done to publicise this alternative/complimentary method of navigation.

The case against mobile phones and other electronic navigation usually runs along these lines:

1. “You can’t use a mobile phone in the rain.” Yes you can. What’s more, pouches nowadays are largely touch sensitive. I hang mine around my neck when it’s raining, which has the additional bonus of keeping it warm, therefore prolonging battery life.
2. “What happens if the battery runs out?” I carry a power bank that can charge a phone many times over. I only use it on overnight missions where I would charge my phone to watch a video in my tent to pass the time. Also, switching to plane mode when walking increases a battery’s life by a large margin.
3. “You can’t use it with gloves on.” Not true. Many makes of gloves now come with a touch-sensitive index finger patch. I will concede, though, that some winter gloves could prove a challenge. (Let’s be honest here, the sort of person who likes hard-core winter walking isn’t the sort of person that generally needs to be rescued.)
4. “The military sometimes blocks GPS.” This is true, but it is very, very infrequent and usually well publicised.
5. “What happens if the phone malfunctions?” In over 10 years of using phones as a navigation aid I’ve only known this to happen once. A switch off and on rectified it in a minute or two. Malfunctions are very rare in modern devices.

Personally, I don’t miss a large, folded up map in an equally large transparent case flapping in my face during gale-force winds. I much prefer whipping the phone out and taking a bearing, should I need to. (I also carry a map and compass when in an area I’m not familiar with, but – honestly – it’s been many years since I’ve had cause to use them.)

I am slightly bewildered that there is still so much opposition to using modern navigational devices. They are reliable, compact, easy to use, and very accessible. However, I am not going to hold my breath on this. I fully expect in the coming months and years to be reading the same headlines and listening to the same statements being issued about the need to carry map and compass and have the skills to use them. But I reckon it’s time for a change. This thinking is in need of a refresh.

Now, can someone remind me what Einstein’s definition of insanity was again?