Rucksack Guide - Mountain Walking and Trekking
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About this ebook
Rucksack Guide: Mountain Walking and Trekking is your
essential handbook for when on the mountain. It offers concise guidance
and support for whatever situations you might find yourself in,
including:
- technical skills - tips and reminders on the key techniques
- weather - from interpreting weather maps to dealing with thunderstorms
- navigation - various techniques including using a compass the setting the map
- safety - essential procedures to ensure the safety of yourself, your party and others on the mountain
- emergencies - guidance on what to do in extreme situations.
The book is colour-coded for easy reference and all information is
presented in lists and tables, making it simple to understand in
testing conditions.
The Rucksack Guide series is taken from Mountaineering: The essential skills for mountain walkers and climbers - the definitive handbook for hill walkers, climbers and mountaineers.
Alun Richardson
Alun Richardson is an International Mountain Guide, the highest qualification for worldwide climbing, mountaineering and exploration. He is an experienced guide and tutor and regularly teaches at the National Mountaineering Centres, and internationally. He is also secretary of the British Mountain Guides Association.
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Rucksack Guide - Mountain Walking and Trekking - Alun Richardson
CONTENTS
Introduction
Before you leave
Preparation
Preparing for your trek
Questions to ask before setting off
How to walk
Pace
The rest step
Downhill
Negotiating boulder slopes
Equipment
Boots
Choosing boots
Looking after your feet
Modifying boots
Trekking poles
Gaiters
Choosing gaiters
Waterproofs
Layers
Waterproof jackets
Soft shells
Waterproof over-trousers
Caring for waterproofs
Rucksack
Correctly adjusted rucksack
Packing a rucksack
Selecting a rucksack
First aid
First aid kit
Tents
Tent designs
Making your choice
Pitching a tent
Choosing a campsite
Survival bags
Surviving without a tent
Sleeping bags
Staying warm in a sleeping bag
Choosing a sleeping bag
Caring for your sleeping bag
Insulating mats
Cooking in tents
Using stoves
Fuel: Pros and cons
Keeping warm
Dehydration
Maintaining water levels
Drinking from streams
Energy and rehydration drinks
Weather
Heat from the sun
Cloud and rain formation
How are clouds formed?
How is rain formed?
Global weather patterns
Easterlies and westerlies
The polar front
How do depressions form?
Warm/cold/occluded fronts
Frontal weather
Anticyclones or high-pressure
Predicting the movement of depressions
Interpreting weather charts
Thunderstorms
Avoiding lightning strikes
How mountains influence weather
Cloud and rain
It gets cooler as you go higher
Temperature inversions
Localised winds
Wind chill
Moving outside
Mountain navigation
Maps and scale
Mapping differences
Looking after your map
Digital maps
Grid system
Measuring distance
Contour lines
On the ground
Mountain features
The compass
Going north
Taking a bearing from the map
Taking a bearing from ground to map
Setting the map
Using a map
Reading the ground
Identifying your location
Measuring distance on the ground
Taking and walking on a bearing
Errors
Navigating around obstacles
Coping with poor weather
Bad weather
Hand-railing, attack point and aiming off
Search and relocation
Spiral and sweep search
1 Spiral search
2 Sweep search
Global Positioning System (GPS)
Problems with GPS
Advantages of GPS
Altimeters
Altimeter limitations
Scrambling
Scrambling equipment
Scrambling terrain
Walking terrain
Spotting
Easy climbing terrain
Attaching to the rope
Shortening the rope
Holding the rope
Locking hand coils
Short roping
More difficult terrain
Belays
Belays requiring the rope only
Belays when a fall is serious
Descending
Descending methods
Via ferrata/Klettersteig
Grading
Mountain routes
Are Via ferrata safe?
Equipment
Shock absorbers
Appendix
Weather forecast sources
Scrambling grades
Rucksack Guides
Other books in the series
Acknowledgements
eCopyright
INTRODUCTION
Mountain Walking and Trekking is the first book in the Rucksack Guide series and covers the skills required to become a competent mountain walker. For walkers, the ‘real’ adventure starts when you step off the paths and explore the parts of the map where only streams, crags and contour lines exist. This handy book can be kept in your rucksack and will help you to gain the experience to walk safely anywhere in the world.
The Rucksack Guide series tells you what to do in a situation, but it does not always explain why. If you would like more information behind the decisions in these books, go to Mountaineering: The Essential Skills for Mountaineers and Climbers by Alun Richardson (A&C Black, 2008).
For more about the author, his photographs and the mountaineering courses he runs go to:
www.alunrichardson.co.uk
BEFORE YOU LEAVE
PREPARATION
PREPARING FOR YOUR TREK
The secret to being safe in the mountains is to understand the environment and to be prepared for anything it can throw at you. Be independent and self-sufficient – we do not have the right to be rescued.
Plan your route Examine the map carefully. If the weather is poor and the route complicated, put bearings and distances on the map for key stages.
Let friends know of your destination Leave a map or route card with friends or family with your intended route. Inform the same people of when you return.
Carry the correct equipment There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.
RUCKSACK ESSENTIALS FOR DAY WALKING
Map stored in a watertight case
Compass (optional GPS receiver)
Extra clothing
Extra food and water
First aid kit
LED Head torch (extra bulb/batteries)
Knife (or multi-use tool)
Sunglasses
Sunscreen
Water bottle
Whistle
Emergency survival bag
QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE SETTING OFF
• Have you packed your rucksack with the necessary items (Fig. 3)?
• Strong winds and poor visibility slow you down – are you protected from the worst weather?
• What route are you taking? In what general direction? Break your route down into smaller sections, creating a mental picture of the legs.
• How far is the walk? How long will it take?
• Can you shorten the walk if required?
• How steep is the terrain?
• What is the ground like – will it speed you up or slow you down?
• Are there any prominent features you will pass on the way e.g. streams, paths, buildings, valleys?
• Are you going round hills or over them?
• Are there any dangers (steep slopes, rivers, hidden cliffs)?
Trekking in the Alps
HOW TO WALK
PACE
• Don’t walk too fast – enjoy it
• Start slowly and speed up.
• Keep something in reserve in case you need it.
• Walk for at least an hour before stopping for your first rest.
THE REST STEP
• Straighten your rear leg in between every step so that it is supported by bone and not muscle.
• Relax the muscles of the forward leg.
DOWNHILL
• Tighten your laces.
• Bend your knees and place each foot lightly.
• Don’t completely straighten your leg.
• Use the thigh muscles to absorb the impact, and not the knees.
• Keep a measured pace and zigzag to shift the strain.
NEGOTIATING BOULDER SLOPES
Stand in the gaps between stones, rather than on top of them.