Oh. They are incredibly popular and basically anyone who knows the word “mountaineer” brings one.
That said… actually try to watch any of those people use it. They’ll pretend they are but really they are relying on trails or were shown the area by an old. And most of the olds are just relying on knowing a few landmarks and how to use a compass rather than actually figuring out their location based on slope steepness and the like.
The old who taught me how to assist SAR/not need to call SAR always loves to give people a compass and ask them how to actually use one to get their bearings (even when it is just “that is The Nose” let alone “what ravine do you think we might be in on this map?”). Nine times out of ten, it is a debacle as they actively ignore everything but the needle and bezel. And this isn’t just the newbies. Even a lot of the people who have been in the area for 40 years basically only know how to navigate by landmarks and would be up a creek if they had to, let’s say, go overland in the event of an emergency/apocalypse. Once they leave their comfort zone they are as capable of navigating as a proverbial city slicker.
I’ve actually been taught how to take back bearings, triangulation etc, and would still remember how to do that, but there’s definitely some hopeless cases that have no idea how to do that.
Another skill I’ve noticed is missing is the ability to know where you are on a map based on a known point you’ve passed, and the time elapsed since then. People tend to overestimate how far they’ve traveled.
I mean, even that is kind of about treading known ground. Unless it is fairly straight going on very flat terrain, you are going to find your estimates fall apart REAL fast (… unless you are doing a forced military march where people are getting berated/whipped if their strides are too short or not with the rhythm of the cadence). Let alone any winding trails.
Its why, historically, one of the most valuable assets is a local who knows the terrain. Whether that is letting an army know about a really good place for an ambush or just helping to navigate even a bunch of fields in a valley, let alone mountainous terrain.
Oh. They are incredibly popular and basically anyone who knows the word “mountaineer” brings one.
That said… actually try to watch any of those people use it. They’ll pretend they are but really they are relying on trails or were shown the area by an old. And most of the olds are just relying on knowing a few landmarks and how to use a compass rather than actually figuring out their location based on slope steepness and the like.
The old who taught me how to assist SAR/not need to call SAR always loves to give people a compass and ask them how to actually use one to get their bearings (even when it is just “that is The Nose” let alone “what ravine do you think we might be in on this map?”). Nine times out of ten, it is a debacle as they actively ignore everything but the needle and bezel. And this isn’t just the newbies. Even a lot of the people who have been in the area for 40 years basically only know how to navigate by landmarks and would be up a creek if they had to, let’s say, go overland in the event of an emergency/apocalypse. Once they leave their comfort zone they are as capable of navigating as a proverbial city slicker.
I’ve actually been taught how to take back bearings, triangulation etc, and would still remember how to do that, but there’s definitely some hopeless cases that have no idea how to do that.
Another skill I’ve noticed is missing is the ability to know where you are on a map based on a known point you’ve passed, and the time elapsed since then. People tend to overestimate how far they’ve traveled.
I mean, even that is kind of about treading known ground. Unless it is fairly straight going on very flat terrain, you are going to find your estimates fall apart REAL fast (… unless you are doing a forced military march where people are getting berated/whipped if their strides are too short or not with the rhythm of the cadence). Let alone any winding trails.
Its why, historically, one of the most valuable assets is a local who knows the terrain. Whether that is letting an army know about a really good place for an ambush or just helping to navigate even a bunch of fields in a valley, let alone mountainous terrain.