ELIMINATION & IDENTIFICATION

STEP 1 If you can’t retrace to your last known position (LKP), draw a circle with an area of probability of where you are. Base this on how long you have been walking since your LKP. After 10 minutes at an average pace of around 4kph on the flat, you could be anywhere up to 700m away. If your pace is faster/slower, or you’ve been walking up/downhill, adjust your area accordingly. Draw the circle on your map – see right. STEP 2 If you know the direction you were walking in, you can rule out an area of your circle. If not, can you tell from the wind? You might know you have been walking into a northerly wind for the past 10 minutes, so that rules out the southern half of the circle and you can shade it out, as above. STEP 3 What has the ground been doing? Has it been a steep climb? Or a gradual descent? Completely flat? Did you see a stream, or a crag, or anything? Say your ground is sloping and you’ve been contouring along the slope, and you’ve not seen any crags, rivers, or paths. An altimeter would show you what contour line you are on, helping to narrow down your position, but if you don’t have one, use a compass to determine in which direction the ground is sloping.

In this imaginary scenario, the ground is sloping down to the west, up to the east, and seems to contour north and south. That puts us in the rough upside down triangle area somewhere near the top end – see right.

STEP 4 So, how do you recover? Aim for a catching feature – something you cannot miss, for instance a well-marked path or river (not in spate). Crags are usually a bad idea to aim for in clag as a steep descent can easily become a rock climb in a few metres and you may get stuck. Whatever you aim for, always use the five D’s – distance, direction, duration, description and danger to control the recovery leg, don’t just wander on regardless. STEP 5 That path marked on the map to the north may be okay as a catching feature. You could try walking north on a bearing (direction) for an estimated 500m (distance), which will take around 7min 30sec at 4kph (duration). You should be on moor, climb a little then descend a little

(description), with no obvious dangers to look out for. If you then head north for 7min 30sec you should see the path. If you don’t, try another 100m. STEP 6 If you still can’t find the path, walk 600m south to return to your previous position to try again with an alternative catching feature. Another option might be to head south-west (say 225 degrees) for 500m until you hit that stream. Then you know you can turn left and follow it to your original path. There are other useful techniques for working out where you are from a landscape feature, too, but those are for next time!

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