Re: Roll Call

<steviephilips@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:1149801723.208343.26180@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

But not being able to find paths due to navigation errors should not in
itself lead to a fatal situation. In poor visibility you proceed with
great caution.

Never trust footpaths they can chace in a matter of weeks. If yo need acuarte mapreading then stick with the defined linear features, like major roads as they don;t shift and will have been verified by sattelite image.

Paths moves, rivers move, trees change, and buildings are not always that accurate, fine for a sanity check but don't rely on them.

Hills can be a bugger too, ridges yo can normally identify and work with but knolls are not much use as teh top can apaear to be in different places depending on where you are.

Micr-nav techniques can be useful but over any distance on teh moors your average speed is going to vary quite a bit, you do need to keep checking, even if it means setting your route to make that easier.

If as a leader you are in such low visibility that you cannot see the
consequnces of a simple stumble, then common sense dictates that you
either stop or rope up etc.

Yes. We did that in teh lakes in 1975 (Still go that log book too) The visibilty was so bad that we couldn't see our maps as the cases had misted up INSIDE and our compasses were just running with water. We roped up, used our escape route and came down almost 1 mile off course on teh worng side of a small ridge, but we stayed down and detoured to our emergceny camp site the longer way but lower down. That was fun!

But does this really have any significant impact for a competant and
experienced leader ?

If I was sending kids then they would have the latest maps, mainly because I make them buy their own now! Our silvers would be confused with older maps but I think our golds could cope if they had to.,

Lets face it the army operate with far worse than a 30 year old OS map in many locations!

--
Stephen Rainsbury
ADC(Scouts) Gillingham Kent
ESL Agathoid Explorer Scout Unit
"Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens" - Jimi Hendrix



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