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    Rucksack Guide - Mountain Walking and Trekking
    Rucksack Guide - Mountain Walking and Trekking
    Rucksack Guide - Mountain Walking and Trekking
    Ebook278 pages1 hour

    Rucksack Guide - Mountain Walking and Trekking

    By Alun Richardson

    ()

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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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateMar 7, 2014
    ISBN9781408125991
    Rucksack Guide - Mountain Walking and Trekking
    Author

    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.

    Read more from Alun Richardson

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      Book preview

      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.

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