Ever since the first reconnaissance mission to explore climbing Mt Everest nearly a century ago, the world’s highest peak has loomed large in the minds of adventurers all over the world. From the first attempt in 1922 through to Suunto Ambassador Kilian Jornet summiting the 8848 m peak twice in one week in 2017, Everest has represented the ultimate challenge. Like so many things at the moment, Mt Everest is currently closed due to COVID-19. But that doesn’t mean you can’t conquer your own Everest. The closure of travel and racing represents an opportunity to imagine new adventures that inspire the heart and mind. One for the list is ‘Everesting’.   Karsten Madsen cruises on one of the laps in his first Everesting ride back in May. © @matthew.tongue What is Everesting? Simple really; pick any hill, anywhere in the world and complete repeats of it until you climb 8848 m – the equivalent height of Mt Everest. The challenge has become particularly popular with cyclists, but can be done on foot or even virtually in the comfort of your own home. Get the job done and you can get your name in the Everesting hall of fame. How did it start? The first Everesting event was in 1994. The grandson of the famous mountaineer George Mallory, who disappeared on Mt Everest in 1924, biked up 1069 m Mount Donna Buang in Victoria, Australia eight times. The format and rules were later developed by Australian cyclist Andy van Bergen, who was inspired by Mallory's effort. Andy also heads up the Hell 500 cycling collaborative which runs www.everesting.cc, the global hub for Everesting. Everesting boom time We all need goals to aim for. Otherwise our motivation wanes. For athletes and adventurers, COVID-19 wiped out the usual goals, including races and travelling to adventure destinations. Athletes and adventurers have had to find new ways to stay motivated. That’s why FKT (fastest known time) attempts have exploded in number this year. And for the same reason so have Everesting attempts. Already so far in 2020, the fastest known times for successful Everestings have fallen 10 times in the men’s category, and seven times in the women’s category. At the time of writing this, Irish road racing cyclist Ronan McLaughlin holds the men’s record: 07h04m. Brit and former pro cyclist Emma Pooley holds the women’s record: 08h53m.   Karsten says this Everesting attempt is so tough he might find his breaking point. © @matthew.tongue   Is this the most ambitious Everesting attempt ever? Professional Xterra triathlete 28-year-old Karsten Madsen has his work cut out for this coming Saturday. Starting at 3am – when the local bears are the most active – the Canadian Suunto athlete will set out on his MTB into the lush forests of British Columbia to attempt to pedal up Mount Sproatt (1826 m) seven times. He’ll start his ascent via the ‘Into the Mystic’ MTB trail which has four pitches so steep he’ll have to maintain 400 watts power to avoid having to push his bike. The descent, via the famous Lord of the Squirrels Trail, won’t afford him any real rest time because of the gnarly terrain, including rock rolls and slabs and a tangle of tree roots. To prepare for the bumpy descents, Karsten has been doing special training for his hands and arms. Each loop is 28.9 km, with 1200 m elevation gain. Karsten aims to finish it in 15 hours. “This project gets me excited because people who live here in Whistler know that trail well,” he says. “When you tell them you are going to ride it seven times, it blows their minds. We caught up with Karsten before the ride and asked him about his big adventure.   Carefully monitoring his time and watts on his Suunto 9 will play a key part on the day. © @matthew.tongue We heard you Everested another peak recently? Yes, I Everested Whistler Peak (2181 m) in Kadenwood on May 22. I did it on a road bike on local roads. Each of the 39 laps was 6.4 km, with 321 m elevation gain. The total distance was 247 km and my average watts was 300. It took me 11 hours and change. I decided to do it only four days prior to starting. How is Everesting with a mountain bike on a MTB trail going to be different? It comes with a logistical nightmare. The loop is a lot longer so I have to be a lot more diligent to make sure I have everything I need on each lap. I need to be self sufficient out there and make sure I get everything I need when I go through basecamp. With this one I'm not totally sure I can pull it off. On the MTB, I don't know. The trail down is really physically hard. Why did you choose this next trail for an Everesting attempt? Personal draw. I use it for training a lot. The climb portion of it is very indicative of a lot of the races I do. Plus, growing up in Ontario we didn't have mountains, and the first time I rode up into an alpine environment was up on this trail. It was one of the top five best days in my life. It made me feel amazing in my very soul. I’m also King of the Mountain, or the person with the FKT (fastest known time) on it.   Unlike most Everesting adventures, this one will be tough on the way down, too. © @matthew.tongue Are these sorts of long adventures your focus now? Yes and no. COVID opened a different window into another life. These are the sorts of things I planned to do after my racing career ends. I’m in the prime of my endurance life and my goal is to win an Xterra World Championship. Early in the COVID lockdown, we had no idea whether we could race, so we’re just trying to find ways to stay motivated and get in some big blocks of training. If you’re a solutions based person, you'll find a way to make the best out of a terrible situation. I got thinking about how to create an event that is COVID appropriate and that people find interesting. I realised people find long adventures inspiring. Thing is I can do this now because I’m in the prime of my life and have time to recover. It all developed into an opportunity for sponsors to showcase something inspiring happening. How can people follow your attempt Saturday? Follow along via my Instagram feed: @karstenmad. I'll be posting updates when I can. And to support, please consider donating here. My lofty goal is to raise $8848, covering every meter of the adventure. Best thing is there is a laundry list of prizes people can win. All the proceeds go to WORCA (Whistler Off-Road Cycling Association) In 2019 they were granted a $120,000 annual budget, and this year, due to COVID, it was slashed to $40,000. I rely so much on these trails. MTBing gives people in this town a break from all this COVID chaos. It's pure therapeutic fun. You aren’t following the Everesting rule that requires the way up to be the same as the way down? That’s right. It’s a simple decision really. Part of it is forced. On most MTB trails the trail up is only for climbing. You don't descend it. I understand I'm not following the correct Everesting rule, but literally no one could climb the descent trail. It's so gnarly. Even to go down is full on. You'd be hiking your bike up.   Karsten's family are supporting him, including making sure he gets plenty of calories. © @matthew.tongue   How have you been training for this? I've done 15 or 16 laps up this year. I know every inch of it. Over a weekend recently some friends and I did a huge gravel ride, including some bushwhacking. We were gone from 6am, to 09.30pm. It was a super hard day. The next day I rode my pacing laps. I have years of endurance training under my belt. I’m also getting plenty of rest. The cool thing about this project is I have learned a lot about training.   What’s your plan for the ride in terms of food and pacing? Pacing will come from knowing the lap time, and really following power data. If I hold 300 watts I know what that lap time will look like. Having a Suunto 9 will help me keep an eye on the data. I’ve set it up so I can see all the important data fields: time, current power, average power, current heart rate, and elevation gain. I really have to make sure I'm on time with my laps. One risk is riding too hard too early or, alternatively, maybe I let the power slip. In terms of food, basically every lap I'll be eating a bunch of Cliff bars, blocks, and cookies and drinking a 750ml bottle with 320 calories. Then I’ll introduce flat coke, pretzel sandwiches, and Pringles. I want to have a little real food because I'll need more calories for the way down.   What have you learned from Everesting? To be a good racer you have to have a robotic feeling. We shut off emotions, like feeling nervous, and get into a kind of tunnel vision just to execute. Then we only start feeling again at the finish line. These Everesting projects are a super soul fulfilling thing. Such a different experience. They can bring a community together, and rally for a cause that’s bigger than yourself. It's not about me, it's about raising money for a cause. Whereas with racing it feels more selfish, just thinking me, me, me, and how can I be better. Lead images: @matthew.tongue Read more articles Welcome to the season of the FKT Start your path to mountain navigation mastery here How to adapt your training when the unexpected strikes  

Summer holidays are coming to a close in the northern hemisphere and we’re returning to work. It takes time to refocus and build momentum. It’s completely understandable to feel challenged by all the pressures of maintaining a job, business, family, plus staying fit and eating well. Technology can’t magic the pressure away, but it can help you stay on top of things, save you time and even serve as support to build positive habits. The Suunto 7 smartwatch is powered with Wear OS by Google, providing a buffet of apps designed to help you manage everyday life. We consulted our inhouse technology geeks about which apps they find the most helpful and they came up with nine.     Spotify Spotify's Wear OS app enables you to listen to music on your Suunto 7 without your phone – and even when offline. Connect your Bluetooth headphones with your watch and download the tracks that you want to take with you! Learn more about listening to music on the go with a Suunto 7 and Spotify here. And once you have it, check out Suunto’s workout playlists on Spotify. Wrist Camera Say goodbye to awkward selfies that strain your neck as you try to get you and your two friends all in the frame. This app lets you control and preview your phone camera remotely from your smartwatch. This simple app is easy to use. Find it in Google Play here. Todoist Stay on top of all the tasks you need to complete with the Todoist app. You can add, check, and complete tasks with your watch. You can also track your progress on meeting daily and weekly goals. Find it in Google Play here. Google Keep This handy note-taking service allows you to capture ideas, notes or tasks whenever they pop into your mind. You can dictate your thoughts and Keep will transcribe them. You can create reminders and tasks, and share them with others. Click here to get it. Bring! No more shopping lists on the back of crumpled receipts! Your shopping just got easier with this app which allows you to create and share shopping lists with your family or friends from multiple devices, including by simply speaking into your smartwatch! Get it here. Wear Casts This app allows you to listen to your favorite podcasts offline. When you head out for a run, you can tune in without having to take your phone with you. Get it here. If you prefer audiobooks over podcasts, check out NavBooks. This app places your library on your wrist – also for offline listening. Find my phone This handy feature is part of the Wear OS system and means you won’t ever again lose your phone down the back of the couch and think your life is over. Unless you can’t find your watch, too, in which case you are entitled to panic! All you need to do is tap a button on your watch face to make your phone ring. Breathe. Google Assistant Wouldn’t be nice if we could all have a personal assistant? Well, Google Assistant more than suffices. Schedule events and reminders in your calendar, create shopping lists, check the weather – all by simply speaking to your watch. Citymapper Get live subway, bus and train times, and find the best route to get where you need to go with step-by-step instructions – all via your watch. Get it here. Healthy Recipes Never ever get cookie dough on your phone again! This handy app allows you to follow recipes from your watch face, with the phone safely placed away from the chaos.   Suunto 7 support: Here you'll find user guides, how to videos and more   Read more articles Welcome to the season of the FKT Start your path to mountain navigation mastery here The benefits of training to music and making your best playlist

Tokyo, Japan, a city of 37 million souls. A vast concrete jungle of bright lights, technological innovation, big business, a pedal to the metal speed of life, and one of the weirdest and wildest nightlife scenes on the planet. Enter our three Japanese DJs, whose job it is to navigate this labyrinth of hedonistic partying and yet remain balanced, fit and healthy. How do they do it?   Photo by Jezael Melgoza on Unsplash Elli Arakawa, SO and the CMYK crew all stay grounded by finding adventure in sport, as well as in everyday life. Adventure for each of them doesn’t have to be something that only happens in far flung places. It’s about staying open, curious, creative, and being yourself. “I think the whole of life is adventure,” says SO, the resident DJ of the famous festival The Labyrinth. “I’m not particularly conscious of it, but it often turns out to become an adventure as a result. Especially in the music business, for example in a new place you don't know, if you meet an organizer or promoter you don’t know, and when you get a result there, the next stage is waiting again, and if that continuity is strong it’s definitely adventure.” We talked to these DJs about music and movement and they put together three playlists for the Suunto Spotify channel. Each playlist is designed for a different time of day: morning, sunset and midnight. Read on for good times!   Play your own favorite tunes from your wrist With the Suunto 7 smartwatch you can connect your headphones to your phone and control music and other audio – adjust volume, pause and skip tracks – straight from your wrist without taking your phone out of your pocket. You can also listen to music without your phone: Spotify has just released an update to their Wear OS app that enables offline use. Simply connect your bluetooth headphones with your watch and download the tracks that you want to take with you! With this new feature, Spotify Premium users will be able to download their favorite albums, playlists, and podcasts to listen offline. Free users will be able to stream their tunes in Shuffle Mode using a WiFi or cellular connection, as well as download any of their favorite podcasts directly to the watch.   LEARN HOW TO USE SPOTIFY WITH YOUR SUUNTO 7     DJ SO football crazy Satoshi Aoyagi, aka SO, is always occupied with three things: design, music and football. Before the pandemic, he played at clubs around the world. Aside from playing electronic music, he also works as a designer. He’s a fan of Scandinavian design, including Suunto! SO is not the kind of guy to do things by half measures. When he starts something, he’s all in. That’s just how he ticks. Playing football is how he stays fit and healthy. “I think soccer gives me a sudden rush that I can never get at work or from music,” he says. “Music is gradual rather than instantaneous. But soccer is the only sudden rush. It's almost instinctual or animal-like. It’s irresistible and I can’t stop!” SO also works out to keep his body fit and strong for the game. “I’m careful about my diet and I take good care of my body for soccer. I go to the gym for strength training because I want to play a little better on the pitch.”         Elli Arakawa catches waves Elli Arakawa's extensive travels influence her music and the more adventurous the journeys the more inspired she is when selecting music. Through performing she learns so much about herself and her own creative spirit and what she is capable of as an artist. Regularly touring Asia and Europe before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and running her own party STRESS at Tokyo’s best venues, Elli is no stranger to the challenge of finding work-life balance. But she has found a way. Her secret? Music, eating well, surfing and yoga. Yoga, including meditation, is a key part of her daily wellness routine. It's vital for Elli to stay fit and healthy as DJ’s play all over the place, often from dusk to dawn. Surfing, and just being near the ocean, helps her relax and come back into balance. “I love using my body as it is the foundation of my strength as a creative person, playing music is my real power that feeds so much of my life and I’m very grateful for that!”     Read about the benefits of training to music and making your best playlist ever!   The CMYK crew’s kaleidoscope Consisting of five members, the CMYK crew is all about breaking walls between genres and instead celebrating the full spectrum of colour in music. The crew runs the CMYK party in Tokyo. Since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, the CMYK crew has been creating “audio postcards” every month and sending them out via social media to people in lockdown to cheer them up. Each one hour mixtape comes with a fantasy image that compliments the sound. “I'm creating a landscape that doesn't exist in the world and sending it out with the mixtape,” says Katsuto Tamagawa, one of the five CMYK crew members. “It’s like a simulated adventure to help people feel as if they had traveled somewhere, both visually and audibly.” The CMYK crew stays balanced with running and biking, with one member planning to ride across England after the pandemic has blown over. They are also big fans of Finnish saunas!     Lead images: © Photo by Heshan Perera on Unsplash © Photo by Alexandre .L on Unsplash   Read more articles Meet the Mambo Brothers, two health conscious DJs living the nightlife The benefits of training to music and making your best playlist ever Running books to read on your summer vacation  

Becoming confident at navigating with a map in the mountains doesn’t happen overnight. You can’t read a book and develop the skills. They need practice in the field, in a variety of terrain and conditions. Then the theory becomes grounded in experience. “Good navigation skills are a big booster for self-confidence,” says Suunto’s resident navigation pro, Terho Lahtinen. “When you know you’ll find your way back, it gives you the freedom to explore new surroundings without any fear of getting lost. That is pretty nice whenever you come to a new place.”   Photo by Jan-Niclas Aberle on Unsplash Expand your horizons This is the fifth and final article in our series on mountain navigation. In this one, we review the previous four articles, touch on the key takeaways from each of them, and bring them all together in one place so they are easy to review. It’s worth going through each of them a couple of times so it all sinks in. “Wayfinding and map reading are absolutely useful for anyone regardless of age,” Terho says. “It’s a great way to develop three-dimensional thinking, foster curiosity, and to encourage the spirit of exploration!” Learn the basics In the first article, Terho explains how to get started. Developing good location awareness and topographical map reading ability go hand in hand. Each supports the other. You really need to cement these skills before leading trips into big, unfamiliar mountain terrain. To become a confident wayfinder you need to fall in love with topo maps. Buy maps that illustrate outdoor recreation areas you know well and study them carefully. Investigate how land formations are depicted. Get a feeling for contour lines and how they communicate inclination. Take your map outdoors and compare what it tells you with the landscape you see around you. Doing this over time helps to develop location awareness. “Map reading skills are the number one thing to learn,” Terho says. “Maps tell us how the world around us looks. If you know how to read one and correlate the information with the terrain, you can get wherever you want.” Read how to find your way in the mountains.   Photo by Fabrizio Conti on Unsplash Planning a trip To plan a safe and challenging trip in the backcountry you need to have developed your map reading skills, location awareness and general outdoor experience. Otherwise your planning won’t be based on anything solid. Good planning is important to ensure your trip is a success. This is why in the second article Terho recommends people new to map reading first plan a trip somewhere familiar. This will allow you to relax and to compare what you have seen before with what you see on the map. It makes recognition easier. Once you have selected a destination, study the terrain features on the map. Look at potential start and end points, possible points of interest, handrails, the contour lines, and consider what is realistic for your group. Review this second article above for pacing information and factoring in break times.  Read 7 tips to plan a route in the mountains. Staying on track The planning is done, and now you have parked your car at the roadend and are heading out into the mountains. This third article is about how to stay on track when you’re out there. Two things are particularly important now. Firstly, keep a schedule outlining what landmark or terrain feature you will reach and when, and monitor your travel time. Secondly, use handrails and landmarks to guide you. Look at your map before you start each leg of your trip and try to memorize the upcoming terrain features. Read our 9 tips for staying on track in the mountains. Challenging conditions The best laid plans can go awry. And that’s partly what makes us love adventure, right? If it was always easy and straightforward it would also be boring. Adversity helps us to find our inner strength. This is why we have always been drawn to adventure. In this fourth article, we look at how to handle challenging conditions, specifically poor visibility. This is when following handrails, being flexible with your plan, and having supplementary technology, like a GPS device, makes all the difference. Read 9 rules to follow when your trip in the mountain goes pear shape. Practice makes perfect As with any skills, practice makes perfect. “Reaching a master level is often a process of years,” Terho says. “But if you study maps regularly at home and every now and then spend a few hours practicing in the outdoors, you will make good progress in months. It’s something you try out once a year, you’ll start from scratch every time.”     Lead images: Photo by Tim Tiedemann on Unsplash Photo by Toomas Tartes on Unsplash Read more articles How to find your way in the mountains 7 tips to plan a route in the mountains A veteran navigator's 9 tips for staying on track in the mountains 9 rules to follow when your trip in the mountains goes pear-shaped

Understanding how your energy is produced can aid training and improve your quality of life. Suunto partner PerfectPace explains your main power sources. The human body has two main energy systems it gets its power from; the aerobic and the anaerobic system. Most of us have heard these terms, but how many of us really understand how they work? All human cells use ATP to generate power. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), is an energy-carrying molecule found in the cells of all living things. ATP captures chemical energy obtained from the breakdown of food molecules and releases it to fuel other cellular processes. Phosphate, carbohydrate and fat are transformed into ATP which happens at different speeds.   Photo by Jonathan Chng on Unsplash The anaerobic alactic system No oxygen and no lactate. Sounds like this energy source is not very sustainable? Correct! The body has ATP reserves for about 7 seconds. During that short time it is possible to perform at your max power. Your body does not need to transform carbs or fats into ATP which takes time, but can directly access your ATP and phosphate storage. Afterwards the power output drops significantly. Purposed for fast and powerful movements, the anaerobic alactic energy system is the essential power source for sprinters and weightlifters.     Photo by Victoire Joncheray on Unsplash The anaerobic lactic system Above lactate threshold No oxygen, but lactate instead. During the final dash when you are out of breath, your legs burn, and you need to give all you got, your body is operating above lactate threshold. Purposed for intense activity, the energy source of this system – also called the anaerobic glycolytic system – is glycogen and lactate. Because of the lack of oxygen, metabolising fat isn’t really possible. But the body burns carbohydrates even without oxygen. This creates large quantities of lactate which make it impossible to perform for more than one to two minutes at this level. Lactate threshold means reaching the level of intensity where the body starts to create more lactate than it is able to metabolize. Below lactate threshold In this case, there is some oxygen in the body and the lactate can be broken down faster than it is created. A typical example of this might be a 10 km run. During those 30 to 60 minutes carbohydrate is the main energy source. The way ATP is created is the same as above lactate threshold. The difference is the lactate is being produced at a rate where it can still be broken down.     Photo by Jozsef Hocza on Unsplash The aerobic energy system This is the main power source for endurance athletes. Why? The aerobic system utilizes carbohydrates, fats and sometimes proteins to generate energy. Aerobic exercise can be sustained for longer periods of time. At this level, our carbohydrate store lasts for about 90 minutes. After that point the only energy source is fat. Even the leanest athlete has almost unlimited fat resources, but transforming fat into ATP is relatively slow. For endurance athletes it is very important to improve performance in the aerobic zone. One system While we can conceptually separate the three systems, it’s important to understand that our body’s cells use all energy sources at all times. What changes is the share each fuel source has on the total energy production. Even at rest the anaerobic lactic system, for example, is working at a low level.   PerfectPace is the endurance training platform for triathletes that takes you a step ahead. For a steady performance gain you had to know a lot about training methodology to plan your training sessions. Especially in a sport like triathlon where three sports need to be planned correctly. This is where PerfectPace steps in. It offers not only unique statistics that up to now were only available in expensive desktop applications but it also helps to create a plan that boosts your performance with the help of artificial intelligence, big data and the latest advances in training science. PerfectPace considers not only your training activities but also rest days, tapering, even injury and your personal strengths and weaknesses.   Lead images: Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash Read more articles Don't get sucked in the black hole Know your resting and max heart rates

Spend enough time in the mountains and you learn to expect the unexpected. You might start out in delightfully warm weather and then, surprise, a storm arrives and covers the landscape in snow. Didn’t see that coming!  In the second article in this series on wayfinding, we talked about how to plan a route in the mountains. In the third article, we explained how to stay on track when you’re out on a trip. In this article we look at how to react when conditions get difficult. Thing is, even the best laid plans can and probably will go awry. It’s important to understand your plan is just a plan. The world around you marches to its own drumbeat.   Photo by Tim Tiedemann on Unsplash   3 general rules   Be responsive Our resident navigator-in-chief Terho Lahtinen advises to expect the unexpected. You don’t want to get too vigilant and uptight, however, because then nothing is much fun. Just keep it in the back of your mind that things can change, and to be responsive when they do. Terho says to cultivate this quality it’s good to go through different scenarios in advance of the trip and to have plans for each of them. “In the mountains, you should always have a plan B for surprises: a shorter route, extra clothing, first aid kit, backup navigation device, and so on,” he says. “Having the right equipment and skills to use them properly is the best preparation.” Stay calm Goes without saying, but when things take a turn for the unexpected it’s important not to panic. Panic impairs our decision making ability, which can be a big deal in the backcountry. Instead, do something to help you relax. “When you encounter an unwanted situation, make a stop, have a snack, find shelter if possible and put on an extra layer to keep warm,” Terho says. “It’s more important to make the right decision rather than a quick one that turns out wrong.” Consider all options Once you’ve settled down, consider all your options. Talk with your group and see how everyone is feeling. What options suit the skill level and comfort zone of your group? “Sometimes the conditions are just not on your side and the only reasonable plan B is to postpone the trip,” Terho says. “This can be a very hard decision if it’s a long-awaited adventure, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.” This is when a Suunto 9 comes in handy. The watch’s Find Back function guides you directly back to your starting point via a breadcrumb trail on the watch face. You can also store Points of Interest on the go and navigate back to them.   Photo by asoggetti on Unsplash   Specific rules for low visibility One typical thing that can catch people out in the mountains is poor visibility, whether caused by fog, rain, snow or low light. You have to pay extra attention in any of these conditions, and really consider what options are the best for you and the group. Easy does it In low visibility always choose the easiest route to follow. Stay on a marked trail instead of taking an off track shortcut. “If there are no trails, use obvious terrain features as checkpoints that you are sure to recognize,” Terho says. Know your location One of the ways people get into trouble in the mountains is by pushing on hastily without being sure about their location. In low visibility, take the time to regularly check in with your map. “If you lose your location on the map, it is much more difficult to find it again if you can’t see your surroundings,” Terho says. “In practice, you will need to pay attention to all details in the terrain that you can identify on the map, and also work through the terrain features that you expect to see when moving on.” Keep track of time Monitoring your travel time is essential to estimate the distance you have traveled. This is important because in low visibility it will help you estimate where you likely are on the map. “It’s worth noting that in poor visibility we tend to overestimate the distance traveled and the pace often gets slower when visibility drops,” Terho says. “When trying to spot yourself on the map, remembering this limits the radius of where to look on the map.”   A stream can act as a handrail to lead you to the next terrain feature. Photo by Hamed Alayoub on Unsplash Follow handrails We talked about using handrails as navigation aids in the previous article in this series. They can be particularly useful in low visibility, even as reassurance. “A good handrail is a clear terrain feature that you can easily follow, such as a creek, river, hillside, a fence or the treeline,” Terho explains. “Sometimes you can also use the elevation of the handrail as an additional navigation aid.” Use all your tools When you’re way out in the backcountry far from help or above the treeline and exposed to the elements, time is of the essence. Cold is the enemy. Use all your tools to help you stay on track and safe. Your compass, watch, altimeter, GPS device – each one can help you. “Use your compass to check the trail you’re on goes in the right direction,” Terho says. “Check the time every now and then; knowing your average pace and the time in the last known location helps to estimate how far you could have traveled. An altimeter is also a practical tool. For instance, working out your location on a trail that goes up or down a slope can be done with an altitude reading. As a backup, it’s also good to have a GPS like a Suunto 9 watch with the most important waypoints and the planned route stored.” Wait it out Sometimes the best thing you can do is to find shelter asap. Especially in cold conditions, staying warm is the priority. Hypothermia, when your body loses heat faster than it can produce it, can set in within minutes to hours, depending on the temperature. “There are times when the best option is to pitch camp, sleep over and evaluate the options again next morning,” Terho says.   Lead image: Photo by Philipp Reiter   Read more articles How to find your way in the mountains 7 tips to plan a route in the mountains A veteran navigator's 9 tips to stay on track in the mountains