Recently I was lucky enough to write an article on tramping packs and sleeping bags - look out for it online soon! Being immersed in a wide range of tech-based gadgets, it can be really nice escaping into the bush to test my mental and physical stamina against some tall mountains. In some people’s opinion this makes me insane. They’re probably right.

Yet even when you’re standing on top of Mt. Hector in the Tararuas, or down in a valley in the Kaikouras, technology can still play a part. We’ve started taking a cheap, old GPS system because my sense of direction is absolutely terrible. It’s no use under a stand of trees, but along the tops it can be helpful showing just how much further there is to go.

Another item we ought to take is an emergency beacon - check out our excellent report on them. While I’ve yet to get seriously lost in the bush (though I have spent the odd night camped on a ridge) I know it’s bound to happen. An emergency beacon’s a great example of technology being used to save lives, and could be the difference between being stranded for a day or not making it out at all.

A mobile phone can also be handy. I recommend people take them tramping, as reception can sometimes be gained on mountain tops. We’ve found this invaluable for letting people know about a change in plans, updates on the cricket and other highly important things.

But from here it’s a slippery slope. I’ve noticed many more people texting and calling their friends just for the hell of it in the mountains. One person we went tramping with years ago took a portable TV! Is this a worrying trend or am I being old fashioned? Probably a bit of both - I head into the bush to escape this stuff, but maybe others don’t see it that way.

Fellow writer Luke Harrison (who wrote a great article on camping stoves recently) is a new convert to the dark side. While he doesn’t own a mobile phone, he’s the proud owner of an iPod Nano and he tells me he listened to it on his last tramping trip. While I stood there with my mouth open he explained that after the third day everyone had run out of things to talk about, so he just slipped on his headphones.

I guess that’s fair enough - maybe I’m being too uptight about it all. What do you think? If you’re the tramping sort, do you like to forego as much technology as possible? Or do you fancy the idea of combining a stroll over the mountains with a custom playlist on your MP3 player? What role should gadgets play in the bush?

Read more - check out our articles on hand-held GPS, emergency beacons, mobile phones and tramping stoves.

    Tristan Clark - Technical Writer

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