Applied theories: Route finding
If you google directions from A to B you will get something like the above.
But to get to the top of a mountain you need to move more like this.
When ski touring or splitboarding the quickest, most efficient, and safest way to the top is often not straight up, but in zigzags. This is because it is quicker to move at a low incline than a steep one. Going the longer way is actually faster. Usually this rhymes with how a mountain is formed, and often just following its contours creates this effect anyway.
When approaching a mountain on foot, you also have the opportunity to get to know its surface much better than from a lift. By the time you are ready to ride down, you feel at home with it. You know it. You know its boundaries, have a feeling for the snowpack and the variations in it, you have a sense of its angle and contours, and you’ve got a much more intimate sense of your line back down.
If we zagged a little more in regular life, what might we discover? What could we learn about our surroundings by taking the intuitive route to our destination?
Try putting away your phone, give google a rest, and instead look up, look around, and let your compass guide you. To feel at home wherever you’re at, it pays to zig zag a little.
