newcomers questiontime

Quoted message said:

What is the best / easiest / safest way to hone my map reading, way
finding skills? I used to be fairly competent at map reading, gaining this
knowledge as a boy scout so i am not a complete beginner. I live in the
West of Scotland so I could get to any courses, events etc there. Is
orienteering the way to go? I wouldnt really want to do this
competitively.

Mountain Rescue teams sometimes run weekend day navigation courses.
You make a donation to the team. Arrochar used to do this.

Orienteering is the best way. I used to compete and learned a lot. I rarely
use bearings. I tend to handrail features, use collecting features etc. Your
local
club will prob run midweek 'easy' events and colour coded events. I used
to compete in light green ~5km courses. But you can pick up skills walking
a waymarked course as well.

Although on Creag Meagaidh on saturday although it was clear i took
a bearing to find which of the similar looking peaks were Puite....

Quoted message said:

Which maps should i buy, OS landranger? Indeed, should i be 'buying' maps,
can they be downloaded and printed off?

I use 1;25k. Much safer since they have more detail. I alsouse Fugawi 1;50k
software for route planning and profiling.

Quoted message said:

Should i consider a GPS? (I am tempted here as i am a bit of a
technogeek!)

In 62/84 munros I have owned a GPS.Only actually used it twice to bakup
my compass work.

Nick

Cuprager said:

What is the best / easiest / safest way to hone my map reading, way
finding skills? I used to be fairly competent at map reading, gaining
this knowledge as a boy scout so i am not a complete beginner. I live in
the West of Scotland so I could get to any courses, events etc there. Is
orienteering the way to go? I wouldnt really want to do this competitively.

Orienteering is certainly a good and effective way to improve mapwork.
Though it is often competitive there is no requirement for it to be, and
meets have a selection of courses of different lengths and difficulties
so you can pick your level and if you're not worried about the time you
do it in then nobody's going to mind.

Quoted message said:

Which maps should i buy, OS landranger? Indeed, should i be 'buying'
maps, can they be downloaded and printed off?

You can only download small sections of maps, so in practice it's
usually easier to have hard copies, especially for sheets that cover a
range of walking areas, like 41 for example. Landrangers are good
general purpose maps, the Explorers (1:25K) give more detail but that's
a two edged sword.

Quoted message said:

Should i consider a GPS? (I am tempted here as i am a bit of a technogeek!)

There's no harm in considering one. They're certainly not essential to
get where you're going, especially if you practice direct map usage
through orienteering. A GPS is very good for recording where you've
been, if that interests you to review at the end of a day, and a map on
its own doesn't really do that.

I have a GPS I very rarely take out walking as it's generally more
trouble than it's worth for my particular purposes. I find keeping
track of where I am on the map is just as easy in practical terms, keeps
me better in touch with where I am and allows for more flexible route
finding and on-the-fly planning, but if you like to follow set routes
then they're potentially very handy if combined with a PC interface and
appropriate mapping software.
I do use it (and am /very/ happy to have it) for ski touring where
traditional navigation is intrinsically more difficult.

Note that GPS is not a substitute for good mapwork. You can /never/ be
too good at that, so I'd give orienteering a go and see how you get on
with it. Worst case is probably a couple of hours wasted.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

"Peter Clinch" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Cuprager wrote:

Quoted message said:

You can only download small sections of maps,

memorymap, anquet and Fugawi all allow printing of routes and maps.

I have 1;50k from Doncaster to Shetland in FUGAWI, no restrivions
whatsover on the bits I can print off !

Quoted message said:

so in practice it's usually easier to have hard copies, especially for
sheets that cover a range of walking areas, like 41 for example.
Landrangers are good general purpose maps, the Explorers (1:25K) give more
detail but that's a two edged sword.

1;25k gives more cliff detail and more detail about features, rivers burns
etc.
So ultimately is easier and safer to navigate. I have done 45munros from Dec
with them in all weathers.

Nick

"Cuprager" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

What is the best / easiest / safest way to hone my map reading, way
finding skills? I used to be fairly competent at map reading,

Apart from the obvious "get on a course" or "get into hills that you know
well on a misty day and learn yourself"
One very easy and safe way to learn essential map reading skills is, when
looking at pictures in your Munro book, get the relevant map out and try to
work out the exact position of where the photograph was taken. This is great
practise in converting what you are looking at on the map to the real 3D
view, being able to understand exactly what you are looking at on the map is
every bit as important as pacing or walking on a bearing!

Quoted message said:

Which maps should i buy, OS landranger? Indeed, should i be 'buying'
maps, can they be downloaded and printed off?

For the hills of western scotland 1:50000 is what you should be using the
1:25000 have too much detail and can be confusing! One exception I would
make is for the Cullins were the Harveys 1:25000 is the best!

Quoted message said:

Should i consider a GPS? (I am tempted here as i am a bit of a

technogeek!)

By all means, they are a great toy, but unless you truley understand your
map the GPS will never be much use!

Cuprager said:

Hello to you all once again and thinks for your responses from my
previous post. I have a couple of questions...

What is the best / easiest / safest way to hone my map reading, way
finding skills? I used to be fairly competent at map reading, gaining
this knowledge as a boy scout so i am not a complete beginner. I live in
the West of Scotland so I could get to any courses, events etc there. Is
orienteering the way to go? I wouldnt really want to do this competitively.

Which maps should i buy, OS landranger? Indeed, should i be 'buying'
maps, can they be downloaded and printed off?

Should i consider a GPS? (I am tempted here as i am a bit of a technogeek!)

TIA

Gerry

Thank you for all of your replies. What a very helpful bunch you lot are
:o)

I will look out a suitable course, unless anyone here can recommend a
specific one?

I don't have a digital slr BTW, i would quite like one... it would
compliment my Canon Ixus very nicely!

Thanks

Gerry

"Cuprager" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hello to you all once again and thinks for your responses from my
previous post. I have a couple of questions...

What is the best / easiest / safest way to hone my map reading, way
finding skills? I used to be fairly competent at map reading, gaining
this knowledge as a boy scout so i am not a complete beginner. I live in
the West of Scotland so I could get to any courses, events etc there. Is
orienteering the way to go? I wouldnt really want to do this

competitively.

I'd recommend taking a practical course. They can be expensive but
occasionally you find one run at a local adult ed. school. Langmuir's
"Mountaincraft and leadership" is an excellent resource for teaching
yourself and there are other cheaper books offering similiar. I wouldnt
have thought that there would be any problem getting a course in West
Scotland - Glasgow, Oban, Fort William, Kyle of Lochalsh should all be large
enough for regular courses and other smaller towns, villages should have
something over time.

Quoted message said:

Which maps should i buy, OS landranger? Indeed, should i be 'buying'
maps, can they be downloaded and printed off?

Depends on preference. I prefer the 1:25,000 OS leisure maps. Others are
happy with the 1:50,000 landrangers. I would always recommend buying a map
as it is extremely difficult(unlesss you can be absolutely sure you arent
going off track) to walk on partial maps e.g. streetmap printouts

Quoted message said:

Should i consider a GPS? (I am tempted here as i am a bit of a

technogeek!)

Upto you. I've only ever used one once and wasnt amazingly impressed. At
the end of the day, it should be no substitution for map-reading and compass
skills because like all technical gadgets, they go wrong.

Rob

[email hidden] said...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Should i consider a GPS? (I am tempted here as i am a bit of a

technogeek!)

Upto you. I've only ever used one once and wasnt amazingly impressed. At
the end of the day, it should be no substitution for map-reading and compass
skills because like all technical gadgets, they go wrong.

More to the point they have limitations. They will tell you
where you are but not necessarily which direction you're
facing. Also, you might learn from a GPS that you need to go
in 'that' direction, so you head off... unfortunately the GPS
doesn't know about the rather deep chasm in front of you that
you hadn't noticed in the fog but that the map would have
shown you straight away. GPS is a supplement to good
navigation, not a replacement for it.
--
Fran