[pct-l] Snow Navigation & maps

[ned at mountaineducation.org]

Couldn't have said it better myself! Go, AsABat!


Ned Tibbits, Director
Mountain Education
South Lake Tahoe, Ca.
    P: 888-996-8333
    F: 530-541-1456
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    http://www.mountaineducation.org
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "AsABat" <asabat at 4jeffrey.net>
To: "Jim Keener ( J J )" <pct2010 at ridgetrailhiker.com>
Cc: <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 3:11 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Snow Navigation & maps


> Ah, but JJ, you had the knowledge to input the location of the car
> BEFORE you left on your hike.
>
> I remember the early days of GPS and cell phones, the newspaper
> reported that a group was rescued in a whiteout because they used
> their new cell phone to report the coordinates on their new GPS. If
> they had bothered to enter the car location in the GPS, and/or have a
> map with a GPS grid on it, and/or had a topo map and figured out that
> the slope to the right led to the car, they wouldn't have needed
> rescuing in the first place.
>
> I love my new toys. I don't use them much, but they are fun. But my
> point it, all this new stuff has made it easier to get deeper in
> trouble with the backup plan being "call for help on the cell phone"
> rather than "get our butts out of here ourselves by..."
>
> AsABat
>
> On Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 1:53 PM, Jim Keener ( J J )
> <pct2010 at ridgetrailhiker.com> wrote:
>> Greetings,
>>
>> Yes. That's true. As far as it goes.
>>
>> And. I can imagine on a sailing vessel a few hundred years ago:
>> "What's that you're looking at?"
>> "A compass. It shows direction."
>> "I never got lost using dead reckoning. Knowledge is better than 
>> technology."
>> And no, I wasn't there.
>>
>> Each new technology has skeptics and early adapters. And there are 
>> advantages and disadvantages in change.
>>
>> When I climbed Shasta in 2003, I made a waypoint at the car in the 
>> parking lot. My climbing partner said something sarcastic about 
>> electronic toys. We each had maps and compasses and knew how to use them. 
>> I was the slowest person on the mountain, I think, and coming down my 
>> climbing partner did not want to glissade the last part as others had. 
>> So. It got dark. Individual trees were not marked on the map. My partner, 
>> who was climb leader said what I already knew to be true: "We're lost." 
>> You know the rest. I pulled out the GPS and said, "The car is two miles 
>> that way." Honest. He did not believe me, but did not have a better 
>> solution.
>>
>> I used to teach map reading in the Army. We called it land navigation. I 
>> have always liked maps and know how to use them. And there are times when 
>> GPS adds to my arsenal. And besides it can be ever so much fun to play 
>> with!
>>
>> Walk well,
>> Jim Keener ( J J )
>> _________________
>>
>> jj at ridgetrailhiker.com
>>
>> http://trailjournals.com/jj2010/
>> http://ridgetrailhiker.com
>> http://olderhealthier.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Feb 23, 2010, at 1:36 PM, AsABat wrote:
>>
>>> Why do I hear so much about lost hikers carrying GPSs or nothing at
>>> all, but so few about those carrying map and compass? Maybe it's true,
>>> the most important thing you carry with you is knowledge.
>>
>>
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