GPS controversy explained.

[RoySwkr]

with a GPS you actually have to go to the summit, you can't just quit at some likely bump lower down

Somehow I'm missing the point here. Is that good or bad? For me the object was finding the canister and the GPS was some help here in leading me to the summit. However, I do remember that on Elephant (ME) my GPS showed another peak as the summit. Fortunately, from the direction I was coming I came first to the peak with the canister. At that point I signed in and went back.

Neil seemed to think that it was always an advantage to know where you were, while I thought that GPS believers would insist on going to the coordinates thus possibly leading to a longer hike than if they just reached a bump and called it good enough.

As to Elephant, there are 2 summits of about equal height. The 15' quad showed the NE one as slightly higher and it was recognized by the 4k club for years, but the 7.5' quad shows the SW one as higher so it's now recognized. Since they both have registers and I don't know which direction you came from and which coordinates you had, I can't say which one you went to. But I know you're not a GPS true believer as you would have continued regardless
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=44.76002...er1=45.51588,-69.42616,Elephant Mountain\, ME

 

[Neil]

Or perhaps this thread too: http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=26354



Doug

Well, hopefully no more than providing some food for thought and some friendly discussion.

 

[Suebiscuit]

And speaking of food, I liken this to the shish kebab argument.

You can cook all of the meat on one skewer, the onions on another, the peppers on a third, and have control over how everything is cooked (GPS). Technologyredictability.

Or you can put them all together on one skewer and tend carefully to ensure the meat is cooked thoroughly without burning the veggies. (Compass and map). Art/Science:Romance.

 

[Ed'n Lauky]

with a GPS you actually have to go to the summit, you can't just quit at some likely bump lower down

As to Elephant, there are 2 summits of about equal height. The 15' quad showed the NE one as slightly higher and it was recognized by the 4k club for years, but the 7.5' quad shows the SW one as higher so it's now recognized. Since they both have registers and I don't know which direction you came from and which coordinates you had, I can't say which one you went to. But I know you're not a GPS true believer as you would have continued regardless
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=44.76002...er1=45.51588,-69.42616,Elephant Mountain\, ME

Oh yes, fuzzy logic is the rule of the day. My GPS shows me where I am, the topo map shows me generally speaking where I have to go, but the rest is all very relative and flexible. Common sense was made to be used for something. However, the canister is my God, the GPS is only my prophet. When I find the canister, my feeling is "whatever" maybe Gene Daniel and Eric Savage were wrong, but they put it here that's good enough for me. Except for Scar Ridge. I happened to read that you have to find the canister on one peak then continue over to the other peak and "wander around." It was the dumbest thing I ever read, a statement that defied all fuzzy logic but I did it anyway. I kept thinking, if your supposed to go to a certain peak then put the canister up on that peak or forget it. As for Elephant, I came up over the SW peak first and to my great surprise found the canister. Good enough for me!! I was in a hurry to get back so I could get East Kennebago.

I do remember this summer sitting on the top of South Kinsman, right on the spot my GPS gave as the summit. As I was eating lunch three hikers came along using a map. I heard them say "This doesn't seem right" and continued on down the trail. I never saw them again. Hope they had a good trip.

 

[RoySwkr]

Suppose that to use a GPS you had to get a C or better in this course
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Earth--At...iences/12-540Spring-2008/CourseHome/index.htm

 

[Neil]

Great stuff! I'm enrolling right away.

The aim of this course is to introduce the principles of the Global Positioning System and to demonstrate its application to various aspects of peakbagging.

The specific content of the course depends each year on the peak lists of the students in the class. In some cases, the class interests are towards the ADK Hundred Highest and we concentrate on high precision (Ie. within a half mile or better) positioning on regional and 770 scales.

In other cases, the interests have been more toward the New Hampshire 100 with a more casual approach to kinematic positioning without the usage of a GPS due to real men using map and compass only. In which case the concentration is on positioning with slightly less accuracy but being able to do so for a moving object such as Owl's head and Elephant, and to to a lesser degree, Blue Ridge in the Adirondack formation.

In all cases, we concentrate on the fundamental issues so that students should gain an understanding of the basic limitations of the system when the batteries go dead or another 1965 blackout occurs. Emphasis will be placed and how to extend its application to areas not yet fully explored, such as the minds of VFTT members.