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The more people in the group who can navigate confidently the safer it is. © Arc'teryx / Piotr Drozdz Knowing how to read a map, use a compass and find a safe route through the mountains are essential outdoor skills for hikers, climbers, mountain bikers and trail runners. These skills, the basis of good wayfinding, make our adventures safer and more enjoyable. In this series of articles, Terho Lahtinen, who works in Suunto’s Emerging Business team, will explain how to develop these essential mountain navigation skills. Terho was lead navigator in an adventure racing team that competed all over the world for eight years. He recently led a clinic on wayfinding at the Arc'teryx Alpine Academy, and helped dedicated adventurers gain greater confidence on their trips. “The confidence that comes from knowing how to navigate in the mountains helps you to relax on their trips, making them more enjoyable,” Terho says. “Location awareness, map reading and compass orientation are also fun in of themselves.” In this first article of the series, Terho explains where to begin to develop your wayfinding ability. Don't be dependent Yes, it’s true we have GPS nowadays, but digital navigation technology isn’t a replacement for these essential skills; as we explain below, mobile phones and GPS devices should play a support role only. What happens, for example, if your smartphone runs out of batteries or falls in a river? What if the reception sucks? Or you are dependent on someone in your group to be the navigator and he or she gets it wrong? The more people who know how to navigate the safer the group. Even if you usually follow well marked trails, knowing how to navigate with a map and compass can come in handy. A few moments of distraction while passing a fork in the path, and you could go in the wrong direction and an hour or so later find yourself wondering where the heck you are. It happens. Location awareness is key It all starts here. Without this ability, the other skills will be shaky. Location awareness is more than just knowing where you are. “It’s an attitude of consciously and constantly observing things around us and a sensitivity to notice the essential landmarks,” Terho explains. “It’s almost an intuitive feeling for the landscape around you.” This honed sense of location awareness makes orientation more straight forward. Orientation is the attempt to determine one’s location by relating your position to nearby objects or landmarks. This depends on being able to relate what you see around you to what you see on a map. It takes time to develop this, but with regular practice it will come. Start observing To cultivate location awareness, learn to be more observant. “Start observing things around you, studying maps, correlating map information and the real world to each other, and it gets more and more interesting every day,” Terho says. “If you are using phone apps for navigation, stop using automatic guidance and just use your location on the map, choose the way yourself, and study what’s around you and how it appears on the map or a satellite image.” The more you use topo maps, the more you’ll come to love them. © Arc'teryx / Piotr Drozdz Practice with topographical maps We all agree that Google Maps is possibly the next best thing to sliced bread. It is immensely helpful when running late for an appointment while navigating in an unfamiliar city, for example. But digital technology has its limitations, too. We should avoid becoming dependent on it. Terho suggests buying a topographical map of an area you know well and start studying the map and relating what you see around you. Doing this over time will give you a sense of how maps communicate land formations. “Paper maps never run out of batteries and they won’t break if they fall on the ground,” Terho says. “They contain much more detailed terrain information than most digital maps and are much more practical for planning and for studying larger areas and longer routes.” Learn the contours The number one thing to learn is correlating contour lines on the map and topographic shapes in your surrounding landscape to one other. The map should tell you what you can expect to see around you. With time and practice, you get a feeling for this. “Contour lines describe the shape of the earth’s surface and that’s the most important information on any map for outdoor activities,” Terho says. “Studying maps at home is a great exercise for getting the feeling, comparing map and actual terrain is even better.” Practice makes perfect In each article of this series Terho will suggest some homework for you to do to cultivate your wayfinding skills. This first article’s homework will keep you busy! Map study Get a terrain map for an area you know well (where you won’t get lost). Study the map at home, spot familiar places on the map and find out how they are illustrated. Compare the map with your memory of those locations. Terrain recognition Remember your latest activity in the map area and identify your route on the map. Study the contours lines and look at the intervals between them. Where are the hills? How high are they? Are there any valleys, ridges, gorges, or saddles? Is the slope in a specific location steep or flat? What is the highest point on the map? The lowest? Where is the steepest slope? Field study Time to take the map into the field. When you’re out there, align the map with the surrounding terrain (north on the map pointing to the north in the terrain). Look around at what you see and compare it to your map. This can be visualized by imagining the map is fixed to north and you are walking around it, depending on which direction you are going to or looking at. If you are looking south, you are on the north side of the map and north on the map is pointing at you. When changing direction, you are turning, not the map. You are always holding the map in front of you and the map is pointing to north. Now, choose a route that you’re familiar with. Follow your progress on the map, and spot every detail that’s drawn on the map and identify them in the terrain. This is a great way to learn how the map and the terrain relate to each other. Panoramic view Find a spot where you have a sweeping view of the landscape. Keep the map aligned, north pointing north, with the terrain. While looking in different directions, find distinctive terrain features, such as cliffs, peaks, valleys, buildings, and rivers and then locate them on the map. Guide a buddy Head into familiar hills with a friend. Make a route plan in advance, explain the plan to your friend including the different terrain features and other objects you are going to use for navigation waypoints. While out there, explain all the things you observe in the terrain and show where they are on the map. Then let your friend do the same. Stay tuned for the next article in the series: how to plan your route through the mountains! Lead image: © Arc'teryx / Piotr Drozdz Read more articles: 7 tips to find a safe track up the mountain 8 avalanche safety checks to tick off before the ski season Born to shred in the Arctic Proving electric adventure is the future

Nicknamed the “marathon whisperer” Denise Sauriol knows the distance inside out. She should do after running more than 112 marathons in locations across all seven continents. She is one of our Suunto multisport team coaches and has designed this plan for trail runners. Denise began running as a child and ran her first marathon in 1994. She continued advancing as a marathoner until August 2009. She was running to Central Park to race in the New York Half Marathon, but never made it to the start line. A car struck her, breaking five of her vertebrae, and temporarily ending her running career. To give back to the sport she loves dearly, she transitioned to coaching. “I loved coaching so much that in 2016 I left my 26-year career to become a full-time running coach,” she says. “I have a lot of practice on what to do and what not to do with training and on race day. I coach runners of all abilities, ages and race goals. I have helped my clients run their first mile, all the way to helping some of them run a 100 mile ultra.” Click here to access Denise’s 20 week trail marathon training plan! Ready to train? Let coach Denise guide you! Denise has created a 20 week trail marathon training plan for beginners. Available for download on Training Peaks, it’s designed for runners who are already averaging between 32 and 40 km per week and can comfortably run a 12 to 16 km long run each week. It assumes people following it have a strong endurance base. The plan has a four week cycle: In the first three weeks the volume and long run distance increase by 10% each week. Then both decrease on the fourth week. This ensures a balance of build up and recovery time. The training volume continues increasing up until two 32 km long runs. This gives athletes plenty of time on their feet and more confidence than if they only complete one 32 km long run. “The plan also allows for a three week taper,” Denise says. “During the taper the volume drastically decreases, allowing the body and mind to rest and reset for race day.” Denise advises athletes following her plan to make sure they do their long runs on trail, not on roads or treadmills. She says this is one of the most common mistakes she sees trail runners make. “You have to train on trails to race trails,” she says. “Trail running is a different beast than road running. You can run some of your training miles on a treadmill or on the road, but I recommend a high percentage of your weekly miles, especially the long runs are run on trail.” The plan is available for free as part of Suunto Value Pack via TrainingPeaks, one of Suunto’s key partners, and provides easy to understand, week-by-week, session-by-session, training guidance. Your end of the bargain is doing the work. To download Denise’s 20 week training plan, login or sign up to TrainingPeaks and find the plan here. LEARN MORE ABOUT SUUNTO VALUE PACK AND HOW TO GET THIS TRAINING PROGRAM FOR FREE

Greg charges his electric car on route to the mountains. © Greg Hill Record-breaking ski mountaineer and Suunto ambassador Greg Hill is no stranger to pushing the boundaries. In 2010, he climbed two million feet (610,000 m) in a year, and in March, 2014, he skied 100,000 ft vertical. This time around he has climbed 100 summits without using any fossil fuel, demonstrating that one can be a mountain mad adventurer and also care for the planet. “I really care about the environment and I really want to walk the talk,” Greg says. “We have to be conscious about our impacts on Earth.” “Electric Greg” premiered at the Banff Mountain Film Festival this year. Watch below and see Greg and his adventure buddies test the limits of an electric car designed for the city in rugged backcountry. Electric Greg premiers online at 9 p.m. CET on December 3rd. Stay tuned and join Greg and the film's director Anthony Bonello for a live chat! What inspired the project? It was a long time coming. Forever I’ve recognised the hypocrisy of being an outdoorsy person and yet the vehicles we use for our means of access aren’t great for it. It’s been a struggle in the back of my mind for a long time. What changed? When I finished my two million feet project I knew my carbon footprint had been huge. I was driving my big truck all over and had a trip to South America. So in April 2012 I decided to cycle to all my adventures and not use any gas that month. It was a fun month. I climbed 11 summits and had an incredible journey. But it was pretty challenging because nobody joined me. It’s not something anyone is going to jump on board with because it’s just too hard. It was a great month, but I wasn’t able to inspire anybody. Then I broke myself in an avalanche in 2014. I spent hours, days and months sitting on the couch recovering and reflecting and thinking about what I could do to make a difference. Finally in 2016 electric cars were coming on to the market. The technology was finally there. I sold my truck in 2016, and gave up heliskiing. Finally we had the technology to get us to the trailhead and allow us to be a little bit better. It took the big crash in the avalanche to really stop and look at my kids and realise that if I had any influence I should try to influence a more positive change. Is electric adventure the future? I love the fact that I've been an explorer of first ascents and traverses and stuff, pushing human limits, but I love the fact that I'm also an explorer of this whole new way of adventuring. I'm pushing that and hopefully it becomes the norm. I’m not perfect, but humans are great at evolving so lets put our minds to doing that. There is a great emotional reward. We all have to stand strong and battle. The technology is changing so rapidly. The ability to recycle batteries is getting better and better. It’s the future. In March next year I’m getting an electric snowmobile. This is my third winter with my little electric car and I definitely can’t wait to get to more trail heads. Your circle of access is much smaller if you are only accessing trail heads off the side of the road. A snowmobile gets you deeper, and keeps the exploration fun. My circle of adventure will widen. I'm ready to adventure deeper! Tell me about your electric city car? It has a range of about 150 km. I've driven it down to Jackson Hole, which is 2000 plus km, and down to California. It’s done close to 100,00 km now. When I go on trips in it, I definitely have a little bit of a grin, they call it the “electric smile”. It’s offered a way to help me be better, to reduce my carbon footprint. What has been most challenging about this project? My family was worried about what it was going to change for them. Not flying for vacations and so on. I do my best to make it less hard on them. They have had to adopt all the challenges that come with the electric challenge. Some of my sponsors were initially skeptical, too. There is so much fear around change.  I have received offers to go and explore the world, to ski and summit peaks in remote places, there has definitely been lots of trips I've had to say no to. As good as I try to be I do sometimes fly. I went to a Utah athletes summit, but once I landed there I rented an electric car. There are always options to be a little better. Lead images: © Bruno Long Read other articles: Born to shred in the Arctic 7 tips for running in the dark 7 winter trail running tips 7 great things about running in winter  

As a pioneering cave diver and explorer, documentary maker and author Jill Heinerth has educated and inspired people around the world about our incredible underwater world and the human impact on it. The International Scuba Diver Hall of Fame is an annual event that recognizes people who have significantly and positively impacted the industry through education, exploration, adventure and more. Founded by the Cayman Islands Ministry of Tourism in 2000, the award ceremony will take place in September 2020 in the Caymans. During an announcement ceremony at DEMA Show, 2019, Jill spoke of what the award means to her. “Such an amazing honor for a young woman who started her professional diving career in the Cayman Islands a long time ago. This is really fantastic at a time in my life that is very meaningful where I am just releasing my new book Into the Planet and a new documentary, Under Thin Ice. Thank you for this incredible honor! I look forward to visiting the Cayman Islands to accept it.” There were three more nominees announced for the 2020 induction and they are Handicapped Scuba Association Founder Jim Gatacre, DEMA Executive Director Tom Ingram, and Undersea Hunter Group Founder Avi Klapfer. Jill was at the Suunto booth this year signing copies of her incredible memoir, Into the Planet. Released in August, Into the Planet is a thrilling insight into places inside the Earth you may not have imagined exist, but where Jill has dived. She bravely illustrates intense political issues and presents hard evidence about the impacted ice caps and beyond. Her autobiography explores life-or-death decision-making in critical underwater situations, the pain and difficulty involved in recovering the dead bodies of her tragically lost friends from caves that no one else in the world has the ability, training, and mindset to access due to such extreme conditions. Speaking at a Suunto function during DEMA Show, 2019, Jill talked about her memories, which are fascinating for both divers and non divers thanks to their important messages.

The fifth instalment of Suunto Summit, a celebration of our community and our collective passion for sport and the outdoors, will be held in January 2020 in Ylläs, in Finnish Lapland. We will start the weekend with a visit to Suunto factory and Suunto HQ in Vantaa and then travel by an overnight train to Ylläs, north of the Arctic Circle, to experience the beauty of northern Finland. The participants for Suunto Summit 2020 are: Alberto from Spain, Alexandre from Brazil, Alpinefex from Germany, Dorn from USA, Lotta from Finland, Maja from Sweden, Majo from Philippines, Marie from UK, Matteo from Italy, Max from USA, Philipp from Germany, Sandra from Australia, Sawna from USA, Thumb K from Korea, and Xiaohua from China. Welcome to Suunto Summit! Thank you to all who applied! We are humbled to have such a passionate community. It was very inspiring to hear your stories and to get to know you a little bit. Happy adventures and hope to meet you another time!Excitement at the 2018 Suunto Summit. Watch the event recap here

Making his adventures sustainable is a major focus for Antti now. © Jaakko PostiWinter has nearly arrived in Lapland, where Finnish splitboarder Antti Autti is preparing his body and mind for a year long adventure project – in collaboration with Suunto – that will test his limits. In a week’s time, the long polar night will arrive, leaving only two hours of daylight every 24 hours. That’s not stopping the 34-year-old freerider and filmmaker from heading out into the inky blue night to do what he loves. “The polar night is not dark in my opinion,” he says. “The Arctic has incredibly changing light; each season is different. The winter here is really magical.”Exploring remote areas of Lapland requires careful planning, Antti says. © Jaakko Posti Antti has completed the first part of his new adventure film project, Roam, in which he and his friends explore new freeriding territory in Lapland in each season of the year. With the autumn adventure behind him, a 10-day winter trip comes next. “It's a great challenge for me as a professional freerider and I could not be more excited about this collaborative journey I am about to share with Suunto,” Antti says. “No matter if I’m out running trails or searching new lines to ride over winter, Suunto helps me to reach my goals and to move safely and smartly through the wilderness.” Antti was born and raised in Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapland, and his family home neighboured Ounasvaara ski resort. As a kid he tried team sports, but says he didn’t fit in. Out skiing one day when he was nine, he watched in awe as a snowboarder performed impressive tricks. When Antti tried snowboarding a year later, he was hooked. “I discovered I could explore anywhere I want if I had the speed,” he says. When he was 13 Antti entered his first competition, and while still a rookie earned a place on the Finnish national snowboarding team. While on the team, he won the world championships, X Games and nearly all the biggest competitions world wide. “In 2010 I felt like I needed to do more and not what everyone expected from me,” he says. “I wanted to ride powder and learn about mountains so I quit competing and began freeriding.” Svalbard Unplugged from Antti Autti on Vimeo. Antti lives only 200 m from his family home and continues to find new terrain to freeride. He and his friends, for example, rode new lines on remote Svalbard Island, located halfway between the top of Norway and the North Pole. He does epic tours through rugged terrain in northern Sweden, Finland and Norway. “The whole of Lapland is an amazing place for adventure,” he says. His new adventure film project has an important difference to his previous projects; it will be conducted mostly under human powered steam. “The key point of the whole film is to spend the whole winter in the north, to throw ourselves out there, and hopefully to inspire people to leave motorised vehicles out, and to instead use human power,” Antti says. “I really want to focus on doing things in a way that respects nature.” Getting physically and mentally ready for the coming winter adventure is Antti’s main focus now. Strength training, long aerobic zone one and two workouts and interval sessions help him maintain the base fitness that long distance tours through deep snow demand. This makes his adventures more enjoyable, and safer. “The best way is to stay safe in the north is to have a motor that keeps on going and doesn’t stop,” he says.  Lead images: © Jaakko Posti Read more related articles: 7 tips to find a safe track up the mountain 8 avalanche safety checks to tick off before the ski season Knowing the ropes – staying safe with creavsse rescue online