Trip Planning

Tasks for trip planning and safety

This is a practice task for getting to know digital maps of your local area. Use the website UT.no. This task is based on the layout of the website, but…

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GPS. Photo: Gina Wigestrand

Digital maps

This is a practice task for getting to know digital maps of your local area. Use the website UT.no. This task is based on the layout of the website, but you can also use the UT app.

Search for the area where you live, or the area where the school is located. Choose a map. What can the map tell you?

  1. Familiarise yourself with the map. Spend a little time finding places you have been before. Find, for example, the school, the house you live in, your primary school, the local shop, the sports ground and the like. Use the zoom button to zoom out and in to get a better overview.
  2. What outdoor opportunities can you find in your local area? Where can you start the trip?
  3. Can you find marked routes, such as footpaths or ski tracks? Use the menu button on the left to select summer paths and winter routes.
  4. Pick out a destination, a place you would like to go to. You can also use this map link (UT.no). Use the ruler right at the bottom of the right-hand corner to measure the distance from the starting point to the destination.
  5. When you know that you usually walk at 3 km/h with a heavy pack on flat terrain, and that 4 km/h is a normal walking pace without a load, and that you also reckon 20 minutes per 100 metres of ascent – how long will it then take you to walk the distance you arrived at in the previous task?
  6. Find out whether it is “dangerously steep” in the area where you are going on your trip. Press the three sheets next to the ruler in the bottom right-hand corner. Leave the map type as a topographic map and select the steepness map under map layers. Press the arrow next to it to see how the scale is built up.
  7. Can you find cabins or emergency shelters nearby? Remember to tick cabins in the menu on the left. How far is it from the destination to the nearest emergency shelter?
  8. You can choose between three different map types: topographic map, paper map and overview map. Compare these maps, and find out what the difference between them is.

The link below is an example of a digital tool you can use in teaching. You can create your own digital walks and link points on the map to tasks, text, images and audio clips.

Coverage

In this task you are to find a coverage map for your mobile network operator. Go to the website of Telia, Telenor, OneCall or another operator.

  1. Find a map of the area where you are going on your trip. Zoom in to find out what the coverage is like along the stretch you are going to walk from the start to the destination.
  2. Where along the stretch are conditions best?
  3. Where along the stretch are conditions worst? If conditions are very poor in the area where the destination is, where can you go to find coverage?

Weather forecast

Now you are to find out what weather is forecast for when you are going on your trip. Use either an app or a website. Check both Yr and Storm.

  1. Do Yr and Storm forecast the same weather for the area where you are going on your trip? If not, which one can you trust? Discuss with the person next to you.
  2. What does the weather forecast say? How must you prepare to go on a trip in the forecast weather, with regard to both safety and the experience of the trip?

Avalanche warnings

If you are going on a trip in the mountains in winter, it is wise to check the avalanche warning and ice warning for the area before you set off. Check avalanche warnings and ice warnings on varsom.no.

Use the menu on the left to select snow avalanche warnings and ice warnings. You can also use the app “Varsom RegObs” from NVE. The app shows detailed slope maps and topographic maps for the whole of Norway, as well as the up-to-date avalanche warning for the area.

  1. Find out what conditions are like in the area where you are going on your trip during the relevant period.
  2. What advice does the website give?
  3. What challenges might you come up against? How can you prepare for this? What precautions should you take with regard to safety?

”A trip within your ability”

You are to help this group plan a trip. Factors that are important for planning a trip within your ability, such as who, where, when and equipment, are described below:

Choice of activity: Mountain touring skis.

Who:

Per, Kari, Lisa and Hans have already done a fair number of day trips together and separately. They have gone with light packs and on marked paths. Their experience with maps is therefore somewhat limited. The participants are quite fit and have walked up to 20 km (two mil) at the most. They have not walked much in the high mountains and none of them has slept outdoors before. Two of the participants have done a lot of skiing, but mostly in ski tracks. The other two have almost no experience with cross-country skis, but have done a little alpine skiing.

Where:

They are planning a trip on Hardangervidda, as it is an area everyone wants to get to know better. They have heard that Hardangervidda, especially in the east, is less rugged than some other high-mountain areas such as Jotunheimen. They have looked at Haukeliseter, Dyranut and Finse as possible alternatives for a starting point. The group depends on getting to the starting place by public transport.

When:

The trip is to be a winter trip, as they want to do their very first ski trip lasting several days. The participants disagree a little about when it is best to set off. Some want to go during the winter holiday, while others think it is better to wait until April and the Easter period. The duration of the trip is intended to be four days.

Equipment:

Everyone has, or has been lent, skis. One of the participants is missing steel edges on their skis. Clothing in wool, and outerwear, is in order. They have not yet got hold of a tent, and are therefore a little unsure whether they should sleep outdoors or rather should opt for DNT cabins. They have been lent packs of around 60 litres.

Make a trip plan for this group, based on the information above. Whatever information is missing, and you consider relevant, you can make up yourself. Explain what assessments you make so that it becomes a safe trip.

Risk assessment - an experiment

Risk assessment when travelling on water - canoe, kayak, rowing boat

Calculating distance, speed and time

  1. How long does it take you to get from Fiskefjorden to Haakonsbu?

    • Use the map below. It has a scale of 1:50 000

      Hinnøya. Map base: Norgeskart.no

    • It is possible to take several routes. Write which of the routes you choose.

    • Justify your answer, both regarding the choice of route and the time used.

  2. Look at the map and calculate how long you will take on the route you are going to walk.
    1. Find the time for alternatives at 3 km/h, 4 km/h and 6 km/h.
  3. Calculate distance from the speed and time you have used. Remember to subtract break time.
    1. You have paddled three hours at a speed of 4 km/h. In total you have had 20 minutes of breaks.
    2. You have rowed a whole day with a lot of counter-current, 3 km/h. You have been out for eight hours and have had one hour and 15 minutes of breaks.
  4. Calculate the speed you have had on a route with the current and against the current.
    1. With the current you took two hours over 11 kilometres.
    2. Against the current you took one hour longer on the same route.
    3. How much does the current affect the speed you are able to keep?

Take DNT’s courses

“Trip planning”

Motimate

“My first winter trip”

Next steps

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