Ditch The App, Get a Map

There seems to be a prevailing attitude amongst [particularly 18-24 year-old] adventure seekers - according to a piece in today's Guardian newspaper - that all risk is these days entirely mediated by tech, and that adrenaline seeking or box-ticking in whatever form you choose can be entirely risk and danger free; that any such activity can be participated in as if by proxy: you get the rush, but no-one gets hurt if things go wrong. Even in the rather gentler realm of mountain walking in the UK, there seems to be some vague consensus amongst the inexperienced that anyone can just blithely set out and get to the top of a mountain with little to no regard for preparation or awareness and understanding of their environment. That their tech alone will guide them to their goal. Not so. Very not so. Real life and the mountain environment are not quite the same as those portrayed in a video game; if you walk off a 500-foot cliff in a game, you simply lose a life, or points, or something totally abstract, such as life-force or some such bollocks. If you walk off a 500-foot cliff in reality, you will simply lose the only life you have. End of.

The problem lies in a general lack of education about not just the wilder spaces of this archipelago, and their dangerously fickle weather [especially at altitude], but of the mastery of simple life-preserving techniques such as the use of a map and compass for safe navigation; something that used to be taught in school in the UK back in my youth. Simply relying on a mobile phone's 'ability' to guide one via GPS and some app is increasingly becoming the Achilles heel of the woefully under-prepared. Sure, it gives you a vague picture of your A-B progress, but it tells woefully little of the actual topography of the landscape you're in or what's going on around you. It will also give you no clue whatsoever what to do if the weather turns nasty at 3,000 feet above sea level and you are wearing light trainers - flip-flops have been known(!) - and have no suitable clothing to protect you from hypothermia.

As an example of just how perfidious conditions can be, in April 1986, we were out on the Carneddau, going up the steepish flank of Pen yr Ole Wen from the Gerlan side of the mountain. A fine and warm Spring morning had prompted us to head to the summit ridge and walk back via Carnedd's Dafydd and Llewelyn and back down into Gerlan that way. En route, in the space of a few short hours, we encountered bright sunshine, low cloud, rain, hail and sleet, before emerging into glorious weather at the tops. Fortunately, we knew what we could possibly expect in advance, and were suitably experienced and equipped to deal with the meteorological dog's dinner we were served up with that day. Oh, and unbeknownst to us, were we being showered with nuclear fallout from the Chernobyl disaster, something, alas, we could neither have expected nor have been prepared for, but there you go.

However, my point is that wandering about the mountains demands a certain level of respect for the terrain and its weather from you and requires a decent level of preparation on your part, otherwise you could potentially end up maimed or dead. Learning and experience will go a very long way in mitigating any potential horror show that might befall you. If in doubt, get a guided tour, or just stick to the crowds heading up Snowdon on the easier paths. Better still, fork out for a train ride up there: but whatever you do, please wear some decent footwear and carry at the very least a decent fleece and waterproof, should it turn cold and/or wet, which it so often does, even in summer: the Mountain Rescue service in Eryri [formerly Snowdonia] is sorely tested at the best of times, and they have limited, voluntary resources upon which to draw, never mind the fact that they are putting their own lives on the line to take injured people off the mountains on a daily basis. Stay safe and enjoy yourselves...

Thanks to Jane for suggesting this topic for today...