Night Navigation Top Tips

The days are getting shorter and the clocks go back this weekend. To enable you to enjoy longer hill days at any time of year, or to help you in case you’re caught out by the unexpected, Senior Instructor Jon Jones shares some Night Navigation top tips. Want to learn more? Join our free webinar on Tuesday 29th October at 19.00 to hear from Jon about all the essentials.

The essential component of night navigation is good proper planning! Preparation will reduce the chance of having to navigate at night, and if you are expecting to be on the hill in the dark, knowing you’re following a route that has been planned to be as straightforward as possible is a big help. If you know it is going to be a big hill day, then start early (even if that means in the dark!) as it is far easier to ‘walk into the light’ of day rather than letting your hill day bleed over into the evening.

Managing poor visibility

If walking in poor visibility or at night, and not following a path, then we must be tactical about our route choice. If possible, following some kind of linear feature is ideal, e.g. a spur or ridge, base of a valley, a strong water feature. Navigating in poor conditions can be really stressful so having a set structure to follow will mean you won’t miss or forget an important step in your navigation strategy. Remembering the 5 Ds is essential:

• Distance (measuring between chosen points or features)
• Direction (taking a bearing)
• Duration (how long it will take)
• Description (the 3-dimentional image of the landscape and what you expect to encounter)
• Destination (what you expect to find when you arrive)

Distance measuring, with timing and pacing

Using a compass to measure the distance we intend to travel helps us work out how long we expect it to take to arrive at our chosen destination. We also need to add extra time if ascending a slope. Over short distances (between 100-500metres), we might count our steps to help with accuracy. Practising this on flat ground first, then on a path up and down hill, then off the path, will help you know your own average number of steps for a 100m. Don’t count every step but every other step, so the numbers don’t get too big. It’s also worth bearing in mind that if you walk at 4kmph in daylight, this can reduce up to half at the end of the day in the dark if you’re not on a path.

Use of compass for taking and following bearings

Being comfortable in the use of the compass is essential for night navigation. You should aim to be practised and confident in taking a bearing from the map and walking accurately on this bearing to a chosen feature in daylight. This way when you put your skills to the test in the dark or poor visibility, you can be confident in your abilities.

Ground to map and map to ground interpretation

Visualising the shape of the landscape by looking at the contour lines on a map is a very useful skill. This can be developed with practice and experience. Creating a mental picture of a 3-dimentional landscape is especially useful when interpreting the map to the ground in either poor visibility or at night! When you can’t rely on seeing much of your surroundings, you’ve got less information to make your decisions with. As such, being confident in your interpretation of the contours and the ground you’re walking on is key.

Avoiding hazards

Identifying hazards on the map such as steep ground, cliff edges, or water features such as mountain burns that might be in spate is an important part of the planning process. Work out how you’re going to avoid these prior to heading out. Look at the map, read guidebooks, websites, blogs, weather forecasts etc. to ensure you’ve got all the information you need. This way you can ensure your chosen route is one that minimises the amount of difficulty you encounter. This is particularly important when you’re anticipating being out in the dark.

Relocation skills

Finally if it doesn’t all go to plan, how do we relocate? You might be to simply walk a 100m further in case you are just short of the feature. Or if you need to gather more information to figure out where you are. Tactics for this might include taking an aspect of slope, or walking 50-100m on each of the cardinal points to build a picture of the ground around you that you can then relate to your map. Or if you have the technology, locate yourself on your mapping app on your phone or GPS!

Want to learn the skills and have the confidence to navigate effectively at night? Check out our Night Navigation course, which take place in the afternoon/evening and give you an opportunity to develop your skills with the support of an experienced Instructor.