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Outdoors · O05-01 · If you get lost

If You Get Lost

Navigation and signaling — map, compass, a phone with no signal, and how to help rescuers find you fast

27 pages · 12 chapters · 7 worksheets · A4

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Levels this guide covers

72 hours2 weeks3 months1 year+

In short

  • A route plan left with someone cuts a search from days to hours — this is the most important thing in this guide.
  • When you are lost: Stop, Think, Observe, Plan (STOP) — and most often stay where you are.
  • The alpine distress signal: 6 signals a minute, then a minute's pause. The rescuers' reply: 3 a minute.
  • A phone is excellent for navigation — if the map is downloaded in advance and the battery is saved. A paper map and compass are the backup.
  • Children know one rule: "hug a tree" — stop, stay, whistle and answer.

What's inside

  1. 01How Not to Get Lost: Plan and Turnaround Time
  2. 02Trail Markers, Trails and Signposts
  3. 03Map: Scale, Contour Lines and Legend
  4. 04Compass in a Few Steps
  5. 05Phone Without Signal
  6. 06Natural Signs — Useful but Unreliable
  7. 07STOP: When You Realize You Don't Know Where You Are
  8. 08Signals for Help
  9. 09How to Be Found: Rescuers and the Search
  10. 10Children: the Hug-a-Tree Rule
  11. 11The Most Common Mistakes
  12. 12Printable Checklist

Worksheets (appendices)

  1. AI'm Lost — What First?
  2. BCut-Out Signal Card
  3. CRoute Plan
  4. DSkills Check — Navigation
  5. EEquipment by Priority
  6. FLocal Information Card
  7. GWorked Example — Fog on the Ridge and a Separated Child

Sources are listed on the last page of every guide.

A look inside

The guide's table of contents pageI'm Lost — What First?

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