NAVIGATING in winter follows a lot of the same principles as navigating in summer, but the environment and the hazards in winter conditions are far greater and the consequences of a mistake can be much more serious. Veering off a bearing could quickly land us in avalanche terrain. Miscounting paces or incorrect timings could take you over a corniced edge. Under-estimating a slope angle or not spotting a steepening could be the difference between triggering an avalanche and getting home safely. A study found that 23% of Scottish mountaineering incidents resulted from navigational errors. Fortunately, there are techniques we can learn and use to cope with challenging navigation conditions in winter. Using these can be very liberating as a hillwalker as it gives you a skillset to deal with even the most formidable conditions.
It may sound simple, but in summer we mostly
