ORIENTEERING
Learning how to find your way is a crucial skill for anyone seeking adventure. TR sent an orienteering novice to find his bearings
Nowadays it’s so easy to tap up an app on your phone to tell you where you are and how to get to where you want to go. Apps such as OS Maps, for example, are tremendous aids when it comes to running and are allowing more of us to explore more trails more easily than ever before.
However, the skill of navigation remains a very important one for any adventurous trail runner. And not just because you shouldn’t depend 100% on a device that relies on battery power and network availability. The ability to navigate introduces you to the sport of orienteering.
Orienteering involves finding preset checkpoints using navigational skills. It can be done at a leisurely walking pace, as a solo virtual challenge, or as a race. Competitive orienteering is a great way to get the most out of the trails.
In spring I was introduced to the Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon virtual course in Staveley, Cumbria. It was jointly set up by the organisers of the SLMM and kit brand Inov-8. The course is set near Inov-8’s Staveley store on relatively low-lying and accessible Lakeland hills. It is there that you can pick up your waterproof map containing the checkpoints and also there that I was introduced to Paul Aitken, a fell runner, mountaineering and climbing instructor, and a wizard with a map.
One of Paul’s first lessons to me, a rank amateur is on contour lines. The basic theory, of course, is simple – that they connect lines of equal elevation, as even I knew. However, knowing enough to be able to visualise what you see in front of you in 3D as a contour map or vice versa is another matter entirely. Paul has an amazing way of educating people on this. He clenches his fist, so that his knuckles become mountains and the bits in between valleys. Then he draws on contour lines with a pen. The fingers then form ridges and the back of his hand a steep and consistent ascent. As you don’t see mountains with contour lines in real life, this is an excellent way of trying to teach how different features look on a map.
MEET THE EXPERT
Paul Aitken is a mountain and climbing leader with 20 years’ experience. His detailed knowledge of the fells means he has been involved with nearly every high-profile Bob Graham round of the last 10 years and he was chosen to assist Kilian Jornet to his 2018 record.
Next, Paul explains how to use a compass. I had read up beforehand on the theory of setting your map and following a bearing, but it doesn’t really sink in until so
