Learn to nav at night
QI want to improve my confidence hill navigating in the dark, especially given the shorter days in winter – what tips do you have and where can I practice?
Why is night nav important?
Most mountain rescue callouts occur at night, especially in winter months with fewer daylight hours, and this is because it is easy to get caught out in the hills when it’s dark. So should a walker sustain an injury or get delayed due to their pace being slower in winter, the ability to navigate in the dark could prove crucial. Sometimes walking in the dark might be unavoidable, for instance on a big Munro route with a lengthy walk-in/out. And even experienced walkers can find navigating outside of daylight troublesome. Indeed, a lot of Mountain Leader assessments fail on night nav. So, while it can be hard to drag yourself out after dark when the warm pub or bed beckons, practicing your night navigation skills is essential. Here are the factors you should consider:
How is navigating at night different than in daylight?
It’s harder! Judging distances can be more difficult and smaller features can be easily missed. You will find your speed a lot slower too, so if you know your pace, half your usual speed as a rule of thumb and allow more time to do the navigation itself. Practicing night nav will improve your navigation skills overall and make navigating in poor visibility and in daylight seem much easier.
What challenges does navigation in the dark present?
As it’s colder at night, check the weather before you leave and look at temperature and wind. If leading a group, keep a closer eye on everyone so individuals don’t become separated. When you’re more focused on navving, it can be easy to forget the group behind you. To avoid having to constantly look down at your map while moving, pick a feature on your path or bearing in the distance (if possible) and walk to that. As it is colder you also need to eat more calories.
How should I prepare?
As night temperatures are naturally lower, it is vital to pack spare layers of kit, as well as food, hot drinks, a spare headtorch and spare batteries. The cold drains mobile phone battery quicker too, so take a charge pack and cable and keep your phone insulated. If it is very wet and windy or snowy, consider using goggles with a low vis tint too. Leave details of your route and estimated return time with a responsible person, especially if going alone. Also, before heading out plan an easy escape route for each leg of your walk – being on a ridge at night in a blizzard is not the place to create your Plan B.
What navigational techniques are important at night?
Many people expect night nav courses to be about celestial navigation. While some techniques involving the moon and stars are useful, the UK tends to be cloudy, wet or claggy at night so they have limited use. More important tools and techniques are a map, compass, altimeter, pacing and timing. Contours are extremely useful too – try to feel if ground is rising or dropping away – while on clear nights it can be helpful to briefly turn off your torch and observe the shapes of the surrounding hills.
To reduce margin of error at night, navigate for shorter distances between attack points (a feature relatively close to your target but significantly easier to find). This will allow you to get a fix (an established current position) closer to your attack point prior to navigating across a patch of featureless terrain for example. If aiming for a feature in a group, get everyone to line out across rather than walk in single file, so you have a wider profile and greater chance of hitting the target.
Where should I practise night nav?
If you have never tried night navigation, head out with an experienced person or as a group or sign up to a night nav course. If going alone, start at a safe local park you know well – navigating in woodland is a good challenge. Practice your nav and relocation techniques until you are confident before moving on to a safe, easy hill area you are very familiar with. First, head out on a clear night and use unmissable escape routes, for example ‘If I head south at any time, I will hit a main road’. Then try heading back to the same place but on a night when visibility is worse. If you own a satnav device don’t overly rely on it. Gradually progress to harder terrain in more testing conditions, and recce the area first during the day if possible.