Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Detailed planning of your tour route

The route of a winter tour should be exactly planned in advance by the use of topographic maps and by using the knowledge of local experts and the variety of webpages available.

  • Plan your route: Where will you go? Are there steep slopes to avoid? Are there dangours river or water crossings? Where may the ice-cover have the best quality? Never cross nearby dams!
  • Insert the coordinates of all important way-points, such as river crossings, bridges, emergency "exits" and telephone, huts and shelters into your gps-device. Make sure, that you obtain enough batteries (Lithium) for your gps during your tour. In addition it can be useful to search the internet for photos of your huts, because this makes them easier to find, if weather conditions are bad. By the use of a photo, one has a more detailed imagination of the location of a hut. To find out gps coordinates you may use the dnt's geomap-website: here.
  • Check emergency points at your tour route. Where is it possible to reach villages and/ or roads?
  • Think about your timing: How much time you might need for the planned route? Do not forget to include some additional time reserves into your planning, for example if bad weather forces you to stay in a hut for some days. Bear the shorter daylight period and the extreme temperatures in your mind, if you plan to do your tour in December, Janauary or February.

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