the electronic hills

Sat, Jun 14, 2008

Sometimes I wonder if I’ve lost the plot. I used to just grab a map, yellowing and weather beaten, from the shelf and head up the hill. As long as I had the compass and a couple of rolls, that was me for the day. Now it’s computers computers computers!

I should be out on the hill today but I’ve just finished marking my students’ TMA submissions, on the computer and moved on to the next task, coming up with a quiz for one of the evening entertainments when I’ll be leading for the HF, on the computer. Google and Google Earth instead of Cuillin and real earth beneath my boots. Not to mention loading up the GPS with route info for the trip.

Not that I use the GPS much, if at all, ever but there’s a growing trend these days that suggests that GPS is where the mobile phone was years ago. For a guide, a mobile phone is essential these days, both from a safety and legal standpoint. I’ve even heard a debate over whether it’s better, given the choice, of carrying a mobile phone instead of a first aid kit. A choice I never intend to make, always carrying both. GPS is reaching the status of the mobile phone though. If you have large group in foul weather and something goes really wrong, whipping out the GPS and getting a fix can be very helpful, especially if you give it to a couple of the group, to keep them busy while you deal with the situation. It’s not a complicated bit of kit. The leader just turns it on and hands it over with the advice, “when it says plus or minus less than 10m, let me know”. It’s all too easy to make a mistake using a romer for a grid fix in the heat of the moment and it was suggested that legal eyebrows might be raised in the absence of a machine that will do itautomatically, given sufficient satelites.

So that’s another gizmo that will be in the pack for the leading trip. As an HF leader I also carry a group shelter, first aid kit and rope.

Once I finish the quiz, I’ll prolly move on to printing out some maps of Arran, on the computer. The HF supply 1:25,0000 and 1:50,000 maps though so I’ll maybe not bother, especially as I’ve just bought the Harvey 1:25,000 superwalker. It’s a work of art. The only problem I’ve found with Superwalkers is the lack of detail compared to an OS 1:50,000 map. On my ML assessment, I was told to navigate to the source of a small burn that was coming in at an angle to the main burn round the back of Cairngorm. A week or so later, I had a look at the same area on the Cairngorm Superwalker map and the burn wasn’t marked. Given that the burn was also a good aiming off point for heading up over the bealach, avoiding some potentially dangerous ground, I found that surprising. Superwalkers are unbeatable for complex rocky ground though, like the Cuillin and Arran, so I use them in those situations.

At the end of the day though, the computer gets turned off, the boots get banged together to loosen the dried mud, the rolls, map and compass get packed and off I go. Tomorrow I say, tomorrow!