When I go mountaineering, I find that one of my most useful information-gathering instruments is a watch. That’s right. It may sound dumb but one of the most important components of staying safe on the mountain is keeping a good eye on time. I want to know how many hours of light I’ve got left, so I avoid having to make a descent or finish a route in the dark. I like to know what pace I’m making on an ascent, which also helps me estimate how much further I’ve got to go and how long it will take. And I like to know what my turnaround time is, because I follow a golden rule that says if I haven’t reached the summit by a particular time then no matter what, I turn around and start heading back. I stick to this rule like crazy because so many of the accidents and deaths that have occurred on high mountains occurred because people become so focussed on reaching the summit that they ignored their turnaround times, or in some cases didn’t even calculate them, and ended up out of time and exhausted high on the mountain without the energy or, if high enough, oxygen and water reserves to get themselves back down again.
So simply being able to tell the time is a crucial part of being safe while mountaineering. Have I stressed that point enough? A normal watch will tell you that perfectly well, but if you are a little tired and woozy it may also help to have a countdown timer that you set when you start and that beeps at your turnaround time.
Beyond that the next most useful function I have found on a watch is an altimeter. I find it helps hugely to be able to navigate in poor conditions if you know what your altitude is (remember to zero it at a known point). It is also great for measuring progress on the ascent or descent, especially if you have one that will give a running total of the meters gained or lost per minute. Usually that is the function I have on as a standard feature.
Knowing your altitude is also essential for preventing altitude sickness or dealing with it once it starts. You can, and should, generally plan your routes in advance and calculate off the map how much altitude you will be gaining each day. But it also helps to have it on your wrist. I find that being able to monitor my altitude and check that against how I’m feeling gives a really good indication of how my body is adjusting to the altitude. I’ve been lucky never to get serious altitude sickness but if you do get struck, the first and best thing to do is to drop down quickly in altitude to where the thicker air will help. Once again a good watch with an altimeter and a rate of descent calculation can be invaluable in helping you know how much you have descended since the onset of symptoms, how quickly you are moving and how long it will take you to get to a safer altitude. This sort of information will also be helpful to medics if you ever need treatment.
The one thing I haven’t used on a mountain, though some friends have, is a heart rate monitor. I think it may be a bit of data too much for me to bother assimilating. That said, my mate who uses one has great fun downloading all the data to his computer and producing graphs of altitude vs heart rate.