Woman MTBer missing in Yengo NP
- Thread starter pharmaboy
- Start date
John U
MTB Precision
Co-ordinates alone are useless if you're out of phone range. It's like knowing exactly where you are but having no idea where you are. Co-ordinates with a good 1:25000 map should get you out of trouble if you know how to read a map.
Going back about 10 years I used to ride this area with a Garmin Foretrex 101 and 1:25000 maps. The Garmin unit would only really give me a bread crumb trail and co-ordinates. It was a bit of dicking around getting the maps out but after using the a Garmin Edge 800 for a few months I would go as far as saying that co-ordinates and 1:25000 map give an easier to read result than the Garmin Edge 800 maps.
Tracking down the full set of 1:25000 maps was fairly hard to do back then. I'd reckon it would be impossible now.
dcrofty
Eats Squid
I have every single 1:25k topo for NSW as a georeferenced PDF saved on a micro sd card on my phone. Nearly 12 gig worth. Anwhere I go I can pull up the digital topo for my location and use Avenza PDF maps to put a dot on the map - no reception needed and has saved me from embarrassment a few times. As always only as good as your phone battery though.
That lady needed something like a spot tracker for what she was doing.
That lady needed something like a spot tracker for what she was doing.
pharmaboy
Eats Squid
Yeah, but you have to be a bit geaky to have a maps app and have downloaded the tiles etc for the area - I'd say 99% if smart phone users on mtbs only have data maps available.
For the record, i have motionx on the phone with maps for about a 100km radius from where I am
stirk
Burner
If off trekking for a day and using a phone as your map you would take a battery pack with enough power for a few charges.
Can't beat a printed map and compass though.
dcrofty
Eats Squid
I have connections :dance: 2014 versions too.
John U
MTB Precision
Sounds awesome. Where did you get that from and how much was it if you don't mind me asking?
John U
MTB Precision
Guess my question might be redundant then.
dcrofty
Eats Squid
Yeah for sure, I carry them too.
stirk
Burner
And a torch, whistle, flask of whiskey, hand gun, tin of baked beans.
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dcrofty
Eats Squid
Actually, I have a nice man in a helicopter come get me at the end of every day.
stirk
Burner
Rich bastard.
I would not ever consider going for a ride that I didn't have a great idea of where I'd end up. It's great that she's been found and is fine blah blah blah but I reckon it's pretty stupid to go adventuring without a decent plan and even a back up plan with some direct ways out. I've done some epic rides in other countries on trails that I have not ridden but I've spent tons of time prior to that cramming it into my head on where I'm going, where I could end up and where the easy out's are.
Being prepared is pretty fucking easy and hey, it can save you getting your stupid arse lost in the middle of bumblefuck and stressing the shit out of the people who thought you had some idea on responsibility.
Being prepared is pretty fucking easy and hey, it can save you getting your stupid arse lost in the middle of bumblefuck and stressing the shit out of the people who thought you had some idea on responsibility.
steve jobs' pancreas
Eats Squid
or worse still, staying lost forever and having to marry a bear
pharmaboy
Eats Squid
What, you've never got lost while mountain biking?
Get outtahere! You need to take more risks dozer - exploring, finding new tracks, seeing new shit - it's all part of it - is it more risky - sure it is - if it wasn't it wouldn't have the same vibe.
Riding a downhill track is risky as fuck - you could become a quadraplegic, or a brain injury - this lady is taking less risk than that, and you're up her for the rent for being one of the people for whom it goes to shit in a hand basket .
Take the risk, live life, but don't go thinking the risk doesn't apply to you because you are too smart.
stirk
Burner
Ever since year nine at school when they allowed us to start using calculators life has been so much better.
redbruce
Eats Squid
Same, for Victoria. I have access to the DSE fire maps though work.
dcrofty
Eats Squid
I reckon exploring etc is cool and getting a little lost is always interesting but blithely setting out into proper wilderness with NFI about getting yourself back out isnt smart - and that I see a fair bit.
link1896
Mr Greenfield
Whilst in yarrawonga I went for a midnight ride at Boomanoomana State Forest. Did a loop and found my way out without using a device, but did have two iPhones and a Garmin, plus a usb battery pack. Was great fun to navigate by gut, it's VERY hard to remember the way when going back the way you came at night, impossible to make out tire tracks in soft sand. Worse was the feeling Ivan Milat was around every turn.
Btw, it's fucking flat along the Murray, quite boring.