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Being able to pace a distance helps you to know how far you have gone, but it is the job of the compass to help ensure that you are travelling in the right direction!  Again, in misty conditions, it is very easy to become disorientated and very difficult to maintain a straight line of travel.  As with all navigation techniques, they are best mastered in good conditions, before being tried out for real.

Walking on a bearing to a point in the distance may not always be practical if you can not tell where the horizon is.  Sending someone out in front may help your field of vision, but communicating with that person may be all but impossible if the clouds are accompanied by strong winds.  Holding the compass level, in front of your chest and slowly pacing forward is probably one of the best ways to maintain a steady course.  To help check your progress, turn 180 degrees, and check that your ski tracks line up accordingly and are in a straight line behind you.

Before embarking on a navigational ‘leg’ or a compass bearing, make some quick observations and calculations from the map:

How far do you intend to travel? How long do you expect it to take you? How will you know if you’ve gone to far? Are you expecting the terrain to change? Will the slope angle/aspect change?  

By having made these observations from the map, you can then keep a track of your progress by observing the ground around you.  You are now more likely to notice sooner rather than later if things are turning out differently to how you expected them to and therefore reduce the chances of becoming misplaced.

A common problem with navigation is that with ‘your head in the map’, you miss what is happening on the ground, so make sure you stay aware of the terrain you are skiing on.  It’s easy to stray onto an avalanche prone slope – and if you are unsure, stop and check before continuing.

An altimeter is a useful aid to navigation, especially if you are travelling on a wide open snow slope that lacks any obvious identifying features.  They need to be re-set regularly to maintain accuracy and should be done each time you reach a point of known altitude, such as a col, peak or building.  In conjunction with the pacing and bearing techniques mentioned earlier, the altimeter can help pin point your position as well as giving a gauge on your rate of progress during ascent or descent.  A barometer function also allows you to notice a change in the atmospheric pressure and the possible onset of poor weather.  

Developments with GPS (Global Positioning Systems) have resulted in very accurate and easy to use navigation tools, where hut locations etc can be pre-programmed, reducing much of the stress mentioned above.  These can prove very useful tools, but it is always worth having the basic skills yourself rather than having to rely solely on something that is battery operated.

So to conclude, keep your eye on the map, even when the weather is good.  Look at how close contours on the map are in relation to how steep a slope actually is in reality.  This will help you to make a good guess from a map whether or not a slope will be too steep to ski up or down.  Keep a track on the weather or conditions and by studying the map prior to departure, have a mental picture of what the route should be like and an idea of any possible escape routes or bad weather alternatives.  

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