Use a Route Card - the navigator’s helper

A route card (also called a travel agenda in some publications) is a printed summary of important trail junctions, decision points, elevations, compass bearings, UTM waypoints, route photos, and key beta, with enough information to make you confident of successful navigation.

In years past, a few pages photocopied from a guidebook was all anyone carried.  Now with so many trip reports, route photos and Google Earth images available from the Web, it’s more important to try and condense the info you need onto at most a few pages. 

A route card for a straightforward climb might consist of just a few sentences, like: “From trailhead (elevation 5,400), proceed 2.3 miles, then go left at the cairn marking the climber’s trail.  Ascend 1.5 miles and 2,300 feet to the pass.  From the pass (5,600’), go 0.8 miles on bearing 238 degrees to access the ascent gully.  To descend, retrace.”

The process of making a good route card is nearly as important as carrying one.  Creating the card forces you to look at small details of the terrain, anticipate trouble spots, help to visualize the landscape (esp. with Google earth), and make you much more confident in navigation even before you leave the trailhead.  Note:  A route card is NOT a replacement for a map; it supplements the map you already carry.

Information sources for a route card might include:

• scanned or photocopied guide book pages
• cut and paste text and images from web trip reports
• Google Earth images (Google earth is covered in another tip of the week)
• images from mapping software
• using the “Export Waypoint” feature from mapping software to make a list of important GPS waypoints

Tips . . .

• Give your route card a homemade lamination job in a single plastic sheet protector with a strip of clear tape at the top or a 1 quart ziplock bag.  This prevents damage from folding and weather.
• Keep the card handy in an outside pocket for easy reference.
• Make copies for everyone on your climb team.  A great route card does no good if it gets lost.
• If you use MS Word, the “Insert—> Text Box” feature can help a lot with the page layout.  Decrease page margins to 0.5 inches to maximize printed space.
• Having a scanner and screen grabber utility, such as the free Ace WINscreen, are helpful.
• If you do not use the fancy computer tools, a simple photocopy machine, scissors and glue stick works well too.

Here’s a link to a sample route card for Middle Sister in the Oregon Cascades (.pdf file)  Check it out.
Middle Sister Routecard.pdf