UKC

How often do you actualy use your Compass when out walking in the Hills?
Im not interested in Whiteout conditions but for situations where you can still see more than a foot infront of you.

I was just thinking about it and realised i have only ever used it to convince my mate in Northern Ireland, who was taking me for a walk in the Mournes that he had the Map upside down.He actualy didnt belive it, till we could see what end of the lake the damm was at

In reply to Mokkel: My view is that with good reading of the contours, a half decent view and a bit of thought about the route beforehand, the compass should stay largely in the bag/pocket. Conversely, when you see people on a totally clear day with views for miles stopping every 10 minutes with the compass, I do wonder a bit. However I guess it's like all these things; confidence based on experience, judging when you need it and when you don't.

In reply to nickinscottishmountains:


Maybe they're practising their compass use, so that, when they're stuck in a whiteout, they're utterly proficient...

In reply to captain paranoia: It is something that if you dont keep doing it you forget. I was on a MR training course one night when an army major who had been to the north pole gave a bearing completely opposite to mine, I thought shit I must be bad till it was pointed out that the major was 180 degrees out, I later asked him if hadnt really been to the south pole, heh heh

In reply to captain paranoia:

>Maybe they're practising their compass use, so that, when they're stuck in a whiteout, they're utterly proficient..

Did that on a hillside in Torridon on a wet day, ground sloped away to the left just a bit and I sent people off on a bearing for half a mile, and they slipped down the slope taking them over 10 deg out. So easy to do, it was to demonstrate what could happen if you do not do line of sight bearings in bits in poor conditions.

In reply to Mokkel:

I always have mine clipped to the map, but I tend to navigate off the landscape. I do occasionally find it useful to fix my position via a bearing, although I probably do it more because I can than because I need to. It's quite reasurring when I'm on my own to be able to double-check everything and prove that I've covered as much ground as I think I have.

I get the impression that many people use their compass most frequently to set the map to the ground. Frankly I can't cope with that - even if I'm walking south I'll have the map with north at the top, otherwise my brain still transposes things and I get totally lost. The worst map I ever used was a south-orientated one of the Polish Tatras. I inevitably turned left instead of right at every opportunity...

In reply to psd:
I'll have the map with north at the top,

Second that, the GPS we use for geotagging pictures and for creating tracklogs of bikeroutes, had the map set so it traveling direction was up, it confused me soo much till i got it set to always have north up.

In reply to Fawksey:




We always worked in mils for navigation. The only time we bothered with degrees was when communicating with Pilots. Thats why most Rodneys need a good check Navigator

In reply to Ian Black: the only mils I came across were to do with my battle sights, never having took much interest in artillery

In reply to Mokkel:

I tend to study the map before I set out, and (given clear-ish conditions), not much thereafter. The compass comes out even less.

Never used a GPS at all.

Y.

In reply to Yrmenlaf:
My GPS use is limited to creating a track log, not used for navigation at all.

In reply to Yrmenlaf:




Its always a good idea to get a mental picture of where your going even before you get there. Just studying the relief of the land on the map is good practise IMO, and definitely gives you an advantage you wouldn't get from reading the Beano.

In reply to psd:

Ah the Tatras. I did my DofE there and when we were planning the route we kept getting the bearings wrong so in the end I drew massive arrows on the map pointing North so I wouldn't forget.

Four years later, I was helping to supervise a group in the same place who had walked all day in completely the opposite direction.

I rarely use the compass unless I can't see. Then I take a rough bearing and walk on it, I never really bother with variation or proper "walking on a bearing" techniques. I just sort of do it with an inbuilt sense of direction. One day I expect I'll come to some mischief but not yet.

In reply to Mokkel:

In areas that I'm very familiar with I very rarely use a compass in good visibility because I can orient myself from looking around me (e.g., I know that I'm looking at Scafell Pike and so I know which direction I'm facing in and I know which way to walk) or often I simply know the way from having walked it frequently before. But in areas that I am less familiar with I often use a compass even in good visibility just to set the map. I also find that I use a compass more often (even in good visibility) when walking over trackless terrain.

In reply to Mokkel:

If there's alot of paths running off in different directions, and I'm not familiar with the area I'm in, I tend to use the compass just to clarify my direction. It generally stays in my pocket though.

In reply to Mokkel:

I have mine clipped to my map case, but very rarely use it. I realised this the other day and decided to brush up my skills a bit and then found somewhere in the last 5 years its gone 90 degrees out. We'll I assume it's 90 degrees out, it was pointing to the east of where I expected and the route I took on the map seemed to match the ground I walked over that day.

In reply to Mokkel:

used one last week to align a dipole for comms cumbria to the SW

otherwise very infrequently ecept in winter though carry one normally

In reply to Mokkel:
Use it a lot for letterboxing with.

In reply to Mokkel:

Use it to orient maps, bearings in the dark/ micro nav, and (most usefully) walking off scafell pike in low cloud and not falling off the side

In reply to Mokkel:

Just realised, not seen mine since the Torridon trip in the 80s, but not needed it in emergency, even on a walk up Scafell pike in mist.

will buy another if ever needed.