Mountain navigation

Outdoor offline navigation

Read in Telegram in English
Leer en Telegram en Español

Outdoor field navigation course program

What do you need to make your trips in the mountains (or just in the wild) as safe as possible?

Using Google Earth to work with navigation tasks

The main rule is that one cannot single out any aspects from the concept of general security, or divide them into more or less important ones. In any critical situation, any weakness in your preparation can cause fatal consequences. Even the most primitive activities - a trip for mushrooms, or barbecue - can be a risk zone for those who underestimate the danger factors of certain types of relief.

An example screen of the Locus.map software with a recorded track of climbing Elbrus

Equally important issues of general security include such areas of training as: physical and tactical training, practical experience of campaigns, high-quality equipment, communications, navigation.

I will expand on the importance of the last point, because it is navigation failures that often lead to disastrous consequences, not only in the mountains. The previously published story about an accident that miraculously did not take place while climbing the Kamchatka volcano is an excellent example of the importance of that segment of the general training of a tourist or climber.

The ability to determine one's location, read coordinates, plot a route - these are the most basic navigation skills for any person, at least one step out of the routine circle "home-beer-couch-work".

An example of a portable GPS navigator

One can get lost everywhere, even in the most unexpected places. Therefore, a confident skill and habit to control one's location is a key issue of comfort and safety for a modern active person.

Moreover, this should not be a navigation skill with the help of an ancient compass and improvised means, such as were written about in out school books. Moss on the trees, slope of the branches, in which direction the birds fly - and other folk signs that originally mean that you are completely lost in the forest. But that should be practiced skills of navigation with the help of the most modern, reliable and accurate technologies.

Screen of Google Earth with recorded track and climbing points of Ojos del Salado

It was in the purpose to reach these important goals that I developed the "Basic GPS Navigation Course" many years ago, a useful educational product consisting of 4 lessons on the practical use of a portable GPS navigator. I would not say that I have earned fortune by selling this course. But there was a certain demand for it. The clients were tourists, hunters, climbers - people for whom navigation was vitally important.

But the most important thing is that there were people who understood that just buying a GPS device is not yet a solution to the issue of navigation. Surprisingly, with the passage of time and the development of technology, the relevance of this Course and its content have not changed much - its basis is universal skills for solving problems in navigation - they remain invariably relevant and in demand for many areas of human activity.

Field GPS navigation in the Arabian desert

Unfortunately, many cases when people got lost in the wild happened not due to the fact that there was no GPS navigator, but because of the banal inability to use it. Choosing the wrong mode of operation, excessive battery consumption, not marked key waypoints and many similar minor errors - turn your navigator, at best, into a primitive compass. At worst, not even to the compass, just to a piece of plastic. But after all, your life may depend on it.

Using your phone as a portable offline navigator

Now we can say that the era of the portable GPS devices is a thing of the past. At the same time, the importance of navigation skills has not lost its significance.

The fact is that the functions of the GPS navigator were fully taken over by the gadget that almost everyone now uses - the mobile phone. For those who are not in the know and do not want to part with their beloved Garmin - even the simplest phone models are equipped with the most modern GPS sensors that allow you to quickly and accurately solve any navigation tasks, from the basic to professional ones.

Using a GPS navigator for orientation on climbing routes

Some people will object to me - "I go to the mountains only with a guide, so let him take care of navigation."

By the way, this is one of the most common misconceptions.

The issue of navigation is a matter of your personal, individual safety. Having guide is good, having a good guide is much better, but even a good guide will not give you a guarantee that you will not get lost in the fog 5 meters from the tent, leaving, say, to take a leak. Or that your guide will not be devoured by the main attraction of Kamchatka – some grizzly bear...

Locus.map software screen with relief of Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano in Kamchatka

It is clear that the phone itself will not be engaged in your navigation - this requires the installation of additional programs and getting a confident skill in using them.

Remember! At the moment when you will critically need navigation, you would not have time to read the instructions for using the GPS navigator or navigation software. This skill is an absolutely essential part of your preparation for any kind of trips to the wilderness.

Field navigation in central Russia when searching for the best places for fishing

What applications to choose? In general, there are many programs for navigation. Most of them require an internet connection and provide you with mostly "urban" navigation. Such applications are very useful and popular in a populated area, but completely useless in the wild.

Of course, both Google and Yandex have some primitive offline navigation functions, but still these applications are not designed for the field navigation. The MAPS.me application, almost autonomous from the Internet, also was intended for building road routes - it was an extremely useful program. Unfortunately, after the change of its owners, the MAP.me software has undergone a disgusting update, and has lost much of its value as an offline road navigator.

Offline navigation in the forests of central Russia

There is another category of software more specialized in offline field navigation. There is nothing to list here, as there is a clear leader of the entire category - Locus.map - an application that literally turns your phone into a full-fledged navigation station, with all the most modern navigation functions.

Functional screen of the compass of Locus.map software

A phone with Locus.map installed that is your personal guarantee of safety on any terrain, except perhaps underground. It needs to be clarified. I don't sell Locus.map and I don't receive any advertising fees from them. I just think that there is no more useful program for those who are friends with wildlife. Unfortunately, this software is also useful for military purposes... For this reason, the developers removed it from the Russian segment of google play six months ago
Locus.map screen during navigation within the city

In principle, the functionality of the Locus.map is identical to the functionality of any classic field navigator like Garmin, Magellan, etc. Just in a modern version, this functionality has become much more convenient, understandable and affordable.

The author of the text and photos - Alex Trubachev
Coach and field navigation expert

MCS EDIT 2023