Making Route Choices Based on Terrain When Hiking, Backpacking, or Mountaineering

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You will hear climbers of all stripes talk about efficiency. So much of climbing is about economy of movement. But climbers think about economy of movement differently than many people. For us, movement isn’t necessarily about distance traveled. Sometimes a climber will take a meandering route up a wall or up a ridge. It isn’t even necessarily about distance traveled over time. Sure, sometimes we need to make a particular point (like a summit) by a certain time period (say, to avoid afternoon storms), but we will usually adjust are starting time to allow for the necessary time plus a buffer.

No, climbers talk about efficiency in terms of energy lost. The reason is that energy lost is often the most limiting factor. On a vertical rock climb or ice climb, pump in the arms from gripping may be what inhibits our performance far sooner than our legs, lungs, or weather. On a mountain climb, the loss of energy may yield slower progress than the plan allowed for, bringing objective hazards into play (such as those storms I mentioned).

So, when given the option to take a path that is less energy consuming, a climber will almost always take it, even if it means covering longer distance - whether measured in inches (centimeter) on a vertical wall) or yards (meters) on a mountain.

This need to conserve energy often comes down to choosing terrain that is easier to travel on a step by step basis. Should I stay in the snow or hope out on the rock that is running along side? Which path through the boulder field looks like it has less up and down? Should I contour on my traverse (holding a constant altitude) or let myself descend a bit in order to avoid a steeper side-hill?

These types of considerations happen thousands of times per outing, and they were the inspiration behind this video. I hope you find the video to be a useful one.

The video begins by making reference to another video I did about making route maps. Think of this as the combination macro- and micro-views of route decisions. At home, making our route plan, we choose the general path we want to take on the mountain or trail. Then, once out in the field, we make these thousands of micro-decisions about where to place each foot or hand.

To cover both types of route decisions, you can find my previous video on making route maps, which I typically download to my GPS, here.

...and if you are interested, you can find a link to purchase the GPS I prefer, the Garmin InReach Explorer+, here.

If you are wondering why I prefer this particular GPS, check out this video, too.