The Rest Step

[SeattlePioneer]

In climbing glaciated mountains like Mt Rainier, it's often a long steep slog to the summit.

 

Usually the novice hiker or climber starts out walking at too fast of a pace, that results in stopping and resting repeatedly.

 

An experienced climber usually doesn't allow that to go on too long. Instead, the experienced climber takes the lead, taking a step and resting a rfew seconds before taking another step, maintaining a pace that can be continued for an hour or so without a break.

 

The inexperienced climber follows in the same steps, and learns a pace he can maintain by following the experienced climber.

 

That's a large part of what Scouting is about, in my experience. Pretty simple but important stuff.

 

There certainly are people who never learn. They may follow those footsteps and keep up the pace while an experienced leader is there, but never wind up with the discipline, experience, judgment or interest to lead a climb on their own.

 

Scouting offer opportunities to learn, not guarantees that people will learn or adopt Scouting values.

[Stosh]

10 years ago when I went to Philmont, I was the oldest member of the group. The lead boy was the biggest and strongest and would set a pace that totally exhausted the boys. I kept to my pace and would always lag behind. The SM made one of the other adults lag back with me. I would break camp, walk until breakfast, then walk until lunch and then walk to the destination. The boys would take a break every hour or less and take on water and rest. By then I had caught up, just in time for them to bolt on ahead again. The SM thought he was punishing me by not letting me get a break. Didn't need one.

 

A couple of days into the trek, the other adult in the group was told by the SM to take turns keeping an eye on me and an argument broke out. It would seem that the adult who lagged behind with me didn't want to give up the responsibility because he was seeing more along the way and enjoying the trek a lot more.

 

My slow steady pace showed through when we made the assault onto Mt. Baldy. They chose a course straight up the slag pile on the back side. They struggled every inch of he way. I found switch back trails, and all sorts of opportunities to get up to the top the easiest. They took frequent breaks and found shade at frequent opportunities and when all was said and done, I reached the top first. My adult buddy was second.

 

This whole process did not set well with the SM who kept telling everyone that we were a team and had to stick together and I said nothing, but as the trek wore on, more and more of the boys kept falling back to lag with me. They eventually figured out that the tongue lashing from the SM was easier to accept than the death march pace set by the boy leader. The two adults argued and flipped a coin each morning to see who would win and be able to lag behind with me.

 

All in all, I reached every destination they did within 10 minutes of the lead group and yet totally enjoyed my time on the trek. None of the boys on that trek ever went back to Philmont. One boy cried for an hour after reaching base camp, just because he was so happy it was over.

 

One has to know their limits and be able to think along the way what is going to work the best for them. Simply pushing oneself to their limits and beyond is not a good way to insure a good adventure for the boys. We covered 110+ miles and all 5 major peaks at Philmont in 12 days, not bad for a 50 year old man.

 

Ideally a line of march should be 1) lead boy (most experienced), watches the trail for any problems, communicates it back to the rest of the group. 2) Navagator, reads the map and keep an eye on where we are to go, advises the leader when and were to turn. 3) Slowest person in the group, needs to keep the pace and everyone adjusts to his pace. 4) all of the rest of the group except one. 5) Sweep (second most experienced person in the group), makes sure no one gets past him and is in ear-shot of the lead boy (a whistle can substitute for shouting.

 

Your mileage may vary,

 

Stosh

[red feather]

Google rest step for a definition of what the rest step is. Been using it for 15 + yrs. Not used much in the flat lands where I live but is useful walking the loess bluffs. (and as the hills get steeper as I get more wisdom (older? naw..)

 

yis

red feather

[structuralrik]

Slow and steady is definitly the way to go when backpacking.

 

In my boy scout days we always put the youngest/smallest in front to set pace. It was considered a great honor to "bring up the rear" since that was the position that made sure the group stayed together and kept watch on the others. Giving encouragement and calling a rest if someone looked like they were in distress.

[qwazse]

When her daughters joined our crew, one mom was very nervous about backpacking with us. She felt she would drag us down because she was always left behind on family hikes.

 

She was greatly encouraged on her first hike when the other adult leader and I stayed with her the whole time. We'd catch up with the youth at any crossing. It took a lot to convince her that really was our pace and we weren't doing her any favors!

 

Her husband, a cross country runner, simply moved the girls along at a faster clip than most of us would care to hike. That pace suited most of my crew since they were all conditioning for sports year-round. To keep them in eyesight or earshot, I made sure I took them on poorly marked trails that would require a little "stop and think" on their part.

[BartHumphries]

I too was a cross country runner and would have actively disdained "walking like an old grandpa-man" even though it's a good valid strategy. Then again, our troop does live up above 5k feet in the mountains, so we're already somewhat acclimated to height as well (not 9k, that would hit us too, but at least it wouldn't hit us quite as hard as people who live down in the flatlands). I think a troop works better when it splits up into two groups. Those who are actively involved in sports go out at a good pace and those who don't get as much exercise hang back and walk at a slow pace that won't tax them too much. Once you get to camp, the faster group starts setting up and starts a meal cooking, then goes back to help carry backpacks for the slower group.

 

I think a large part of the problems that novice hikers face is 1) their backpack's weight is placed more on their shoulders instead of on their hips where it belongs and 2) the backpack is just too darn heavy. You kind of need to have a scale in the parking lot when kids are being dropped off for the trip, so you can weigh backpacks and toss out the "extra last minute" stuff that really isn't necessary and is just adding extra weight. When you're working with young kids, even 10 pounds can be more than 1/10 of their body mass. For instance, hiking boots are unnecessary -- good tennis shoes have more padding and are half the weight.

[qwazse]

Hey Bart, we low-landers have more air to slice through!

 

But you are right about newbies and weight. I had one little sister of a lodge chief take her first hike with us, and I wasn't paying attention to how much gear she was volunteering to carry. At the first incline she was almost walking in retrograde! I grabbed her pack and it was twice as heavy as mine. Had to call my officers back, circle the group together and load balance.

 

I was used to scouts who (being younger, and male) talk a lot of smack about who's pack is heaviest. They usually sort themselves out.