Choose escape-route terrain that conceals you, avoids bridges, passes and narrow roads, and stays passable in every condition: not a creek bed that floods or a slope that ices over. The shortest route on the map is often not the fastest, because a 4.5 km route with 300 m of climb takes about 1.4 hours by Naismith’s rule against 1.2 hours for 6 km on the flat.
Part of Escape Route Planning
Terrain selection is the choice of the ground an escape route crosses, balancing concealment, passability, speed and the risk of chokepoints, flooding and dead ends.
The Route Must Work On The Worst Night Of The Year
The parent article gives the good characteristics: concealment from observation using tree cover, terrain folds and low ground; no chokepoints such as bridges, passes and narrow roads where you could be intercepted; passable in all conditions; cached supplies at intervals; known to all members; ending at a viable secondary location, not just “away”. It lists what to avoid: major roads, terrain that channels movement such as canyons and steep-sided valleys where you can be trapped, routes crossing open ground visible from elevated positions, and water crossings without a known safe ford.
The phase-0 article adds that an escape route should follow obvious features (rivers, ridgelines, fences, roads) that can be followed when frightened, exhausted or in the dark: Handrail Features.
What You Need
- A walk of the ground in the worst season, or knowledge of what it does then: flood, ice, mud, deep snow, thick foliage.
- Handrail features to follow. See Terrain Navigation.
- A list of concealment: tree cover, folds in the ground, low ground out of sight lines.
- A list of hazards: crossings, steep sections, ridgelines, other settlements.
Method: Score The Ground, Not The Distance
Step 1: List what each candidate route crosses. Water, slopes, open fields, roads.
Step 2: Remove choke points and exposed legs. Replace a bridge with a known ford. Replace an open ridge with the slope below it.
Step 3: Test the route against each season. A dry streambed is a road in summer and a torrent after rain. A south-facing slope is clear while a north-facing one holds ice.
Step 4: Prefer routes with handrails and easily recognised landmarks.
Step 5: Compare time, not distance, as below.
Worked Example: Distance Is Not Time
I am recalling Naismith’s rule (W. W. Naismith, 1892): one hour per 5 km, plus one hour per 600 m climbed.
- Route A, flat road, 6 km: 6 ÷ 5 = 1.2 h.
- Route B, a concealed track, 4.5 km with 300 m of climb: 4.5 ÷ 5 = 0.9 h for the distance, plus 300 ÷ 600 = 0.5 h for the climb. Total 1.4 h.
Route B is 1.5 km shorter and takes 0.2 h (12 minutes) longer. Whether that is worth it depends on the concealment; the parent article says to avoid major roads because they are the likeliest to be blocked or watched. Time a route by walking it, because the rule is for a fit adult with a pack in decent conditions, and children, elders and loads are slower; see Distance and Timing.
Common Mistakes
- Choosing by distance. Climbs, mud and dense growth slow everyone.
- A valley route. The parent article warns that terrain which channels movement can trap you.
- A crossing nobody has tested. Water depth and current differ every season.
- A route concealed from the threat and from you. Do not lose the household in thick growth: use handrails.
Safety
Water, ice and slopes kill at night
Do not plan a route across moving water you have not waded with a rope, over ice you have not tested from the bank, or along a slope that is steep and loose in the dark. Cold water and exposure kill quickly; see Hypothermia. Where a safe alternative exists, use it, and rehearse crossings in daylight in the season you expect to use them.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Distance and Timing — turning the route into hours
- Combine with: Local Terrain Analysis — surveying the ground near the site