Originally Posted By: dougwalkabout
I see your point. No doubt about it, a GPS would have been useful to these folks.

The "dead weight" comment refers to my personal inclinations. I don't like the idea of being reliant on a complex, battery-operated tool to find my way home. And I don't like tech stuff separating me from the landscape, from the awareness of its flow and rhythm that slowly seeps into the mind as I walk.

If I took a GPS, I'd still be taking rough compass readings as backup, because I know the compass works, always. And if I'm doing that, why carry the GPS at all? Hence "dead weight" (for me). But maybe I'm all wet on this.

I see that prices and weights are coming down, and if I'm ever doing a trip in featureless bush, I may just spring for one.


By definition a blizzard creates conditions where you can't see,
so a compass will help only in a general way and you would have
to be counting paces or using dead reckoning to really stay on course. In a winter ski environment that would leave you guessing
about the avalanche potential of the terrain around you. Any other
features (roads, streams, cliffs) may not be evident even when you
are standing on them. (One reason to stay put.)