funkraum wrote in
:

Agreed. But most useful in my case for the sort of trip when one
-thinks- one knows where one is going. I do not become lost if I (a)
totally unfamiliar or (c) Can navigate through the area with my eyes
closed.

You still need a map. And translating from a ski station plan to a map is
generally non-trivial, to put it mildly.

The number of people who think GPS -is- navigation rather than just a
way of checking you are correct make for some great Darwin-award type
stories, however.

I'll have to consider myself a Darwin award candidate then. I usually carry
a GPS in the mountains, and consider that there are some things you can do
with a GPS that you can't do with a map and compass, or at least not at all
easily. A good example is navigating across a crevassed glacier in fog.
Even if you know your starting position you have to follow such a
convoluted path that dead reckoning (pace counting etc.) is useless. In
fact a GPS is a very useful tool in any conditions with reduced visibility.

It's also pretty cool to be able to calibrate your speedometer, check how
fast you ski, etc. I recorded 85kph on the schuss to get back to the
Aeroski lift at Tignes, and I'm not a fast skier.

I also used my GPS on a recent trip to S. Africa to identify mountains and
settlements in the Sahara as I flew over, which was extremely cool. But I
digress....

Jeremy