Silver Map and Compass Skills weekend
The silver weekend will broadly follow the structure below although it may be tweaked to suit the skills of the tutors involved. This course is intended for those who have attended a bronze weekend or have been navigating confidently with a map for years .... be aware though, experience has shown that even these people can learn a great deal from a bronze weekend.
Friday Evening
This first session will quickly re-introduce some of the essential elements of the bronze weekend, bring people up to speed with compass work and then head outside for a night navigation exercise.
Saturday
We'll spend all day outside, in small groups, on a series of practical exercises designed to get you using your compass properly. Point to point navigation, aiming off, use of ground features and other skills will be introduced in a structured way throughout the day. We'll finish the walk after dark to give you an idea of night navigation.
Sunday
Another practical day spent navigating around a piece of moorland looking for small markers. A real test of your developing navigation skills.
Below is the syllabus we'll cover taken from the NNAS.
- The ability to ‘break down’ a navigational stage into coarse and fine navigation i.e. the coarse section could easily involve easy handrail navigation along a path while the fine section could demand accurate map reading and use of compass to execute a subtle route where no clear linear feature exists.
- The ability to choose an appropriate attack point as an obvious starting point for the fine sections of a stage and to use clear features en route to check that the navigator is on course.
- Understanding the use of navigational strategies, like aiming off to hit a chosen point on a linear feature [e.g. bridge over a stream] or traffic light system [green section-easy: orange section- be careful: red- extreme concentration and care.] to adjust concentration levels to the difficulty of the navigation.
- Understanding the physical and navigational factors affecting the choice of a route e.g. height gain or loss, [as in Naismith’s rule]. Severity of terrain or vegetation, degree of difficulty of map reading and execution, and the ability to decide on an effective route in the light of the experience and navigational experience of the participants.
- The ability to judge distance accurately [e.g. by step-counting between given points.]
- The ability to plan a safe walk or course involving Level 2 skills and strategies as listed-recording details on a route card. This plan may be used for assessment purposes if appropriate.
- Understanding the practice of simple relocation strategies when lost [e.g. making for the nearest known point for precise location or choosing a safe route to a linear feature].
- The ability to use a compass for accurate bearings and the checking of footpath direction, including an introduction to different types of compasses and their workings.
- Understanding of the effects of fatigue and physical discomfort brought on by navigational activity in open countryside and/or extreme weather conditions, including recognition of the symptoms of hypothermia and hyperthermia and their treatment. Attention should be paid to demands on equipment and effects on decision making as well as basic physiological and psychological considerations.
- An understanding of the formal and de facto rules governing access to the countryside as for Level 1