How to Navigate Using Snow Strips
As is my habit at this time of year, I like to get out early after any overnight snow. The tracking opportunities are spoiling and…
Tag: snow
The Snow Shadow Compass
There are two main types of snow compass: those formed by wind and those formed by sun. Here we will look at snow compasses created…
Weather Lore
Welcome to the page where I have collected a few weather lore sayings and laid out the meteorological truth, or otherwise, behind them. Breaking News:…
The Colour of Mud as a Compass
Readers of my books or this blog will be well aware by now that we should expect to find more puddles on the shaded southern…
Newsletter Quiz
The following is taken from the last newsletter (subscribers received a fuller version of this a month ago, you can subscribe at the bottom of…
The Beast from the East
Cold air from the east is bringing weather mayhem. Or some snow and what we British like to call mayhem. As Bill Bryson once commented,…
How to Make a Compass Out of Sand, Snow or Dust
Whenever you’re on sand or snow, tune in to the direction the most recent winds have been blowing from and you’ll find yourself surrounded by…
White Out and Prevailing Winds
My thanks to Ginny Howells for coming on a course and for this wonderful email: “I just thought I’d share how I used natural navigation…
The Sneckdown
It is a truth universally acknowledged by town planners that there is no finer word than ‘sneckdown’. After heavy snow, town planners can see the…
Snow and Gorse
It is that time of year when we get to enjoy snow and ice natural navigation clues. In the south of England there hasn’t been…
Snow Compasses
I’m just back from a week’s skiing in the French Alps. Whilst there I managed to track down one of the most seasoned local pros…
Foxes Dive into Snow, Heading North!
Foxes in North America dive into snow to catch prey. Unbelievable though it may sound, they have been found to have a massively better success…
Saved by the Moon
Below is a short extract from Apsley Cherry-Garrard’s classic of exploration literature, The Worst Journey in the World. This passage contains several valuable and interesting…