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Transcription
The podcast discusses the importance of map skills in everyday life, using the example of a ski trip to Les Arcs 1950 in France. The resort was unique in its direct access to the ski area and village-like facilities. Maps were essential in navigating the ski routes based on difficulty levels and lift types. The podcast also explains the significance of map symbols, contour lines, and ski signs for safety. Overall, the podcast emphasizes the relevance of geography and map skills in our daily lives. Hello and welcome to my podcast on bringing map skills to life, and not just in a geography lesson. Maps are wonderful and can make your life easy. I'm going to bring this subject to life by talking about how I used map skills on my holiday to Les Arcs 1950 in France. We stayed at Les Arcs 1950 and this is my second visit to the ski resort. We had a nice week and every day was a nice day. Les Arcs was first seen in the 1960s by a local ski instructor and a high mountain guide, Robert Blanc. From his hometown, Bourg-Saint-Maurice, he pictured a resort that would provide direct access to the ski area whilst having all the facilities of a village on hand. The concept was unique at the time. Most other ski resorts had evolved gradually from small farming communities that had grown to meet the needs of the growing tourists. In honour of Robert Blanc, every year in February there's an annual ski race called the Robert Blanc Derby. The resort of Les Arcs is made up of four modern purpose built villages at different levels. Arc 1600, Arc 1800, Arc 1950, and Arc 2000. Each level of Les Arcs is ski in, ski out, and therefore it has no transport in the village, just skiers. I think Les Arcs 1950 is like a chocolate box in Disney. The centre is cosy and has a range of fabulous restaurants, shops, and a small supermarket which caters everything. Like other villages, Arc 1950 has a ski in, ski out layout. Its chairlifts took us to a varied group of blue and red runs winding above and below the tree line. We went in April and we had lots of white soft snow every day. We went on a variety of chairlifts which took us to different locations on the mountains. We always took our piece ski maps to help us navigate and ensure that we did not get lost. The map was invaluable because it helped us know and find suitable ski routes for our ability. Furthermore, there were lots of ski signs which helped us find our way around the piece. About maps, the most common maps are atlases which show countries and OS maps which show detailed locations. In France, they do not have ordinance surveys which are only available in Great Britain, but they have something which is of the equivalent to aid navigation. For maps to be useful, they need to be smaller than real life and ideally fit in a bag. During our ski trip, we carried our maps all the time. When you open a piece map, you are greeted with a blend of different coloured lines and symbols sitting across several mountains. At first, this can be slightly overwhelming and confusing, making it difficult to understand where you are and where you want to go. How to read a Step one, open the map and take a look at the overall view. The thick black lines are lifts and the thinner coloured lines are the piece. Step two, the colours of the piece denote the difficulty of the run. Green, beginner, blue, intermediate, red, advanced and black, expert. And each run has its own number. Step three, the lifts are thick black lines and have symbols attached to them which denote the type of lift. Drag lift, chair lift, gondola etc. In addition, the lifts have a name printed on it. Step four, every map will have a legend or a key in the corner or on the reverse. This will explain all the symbols on a map that you see on the piece. Step five, you can work out where you are on the map by looking at the side of the piece for poles. Poles will be the same colour as the run on the map and have the piece number on it. Step six, at the top and the bottom of most lifts, there are large maps which should tell you where you are located on the mountain. Contour lines. There are three kinds of contour lines that you see on the map. Intermediate, index and supplementary. Index lines are the thickest contour lines and are usually labelled with a number at point along the line. The piece map also shows you elevation characteristics. Contour lines, peaks and spot elevations. The piece map doesn't show you moguls. Moguls are a series of bumps on a piece formed when skiers push snow onto mounds as they do sharp turns. This tends to happen naturally as skiers use the slope but they can also be constructed artificially. As mentioned earlier, ski signs keep us safe and there are a lot of ski signs on a piece. Unless you go off-piste, then you are on your own. In summary, geography is a part of our everyday life and we use it every day without even realising it. Maps are important to help us navigate. I used a map for my skiing trips. It was tucked away in my pocket. A coordinate survey map contains topography. They show the shape of the land and the physical features and contain map symbols. Remember, map symbols are very important and can keep you safe on a piece. Remember the compass points when reading a map. North, south, east and west. Four-figure grid references appear along the edges of each map. There are numbers. These numbers help you work out where the location is on a map. Six-figure grid references allow you to find an exact location on a square grid so they are more accurate. Height and relief. Relief is the difference between the highest and the lowest height of an area. Useful when planning a ski route. Topography is the surface features of the earth like hills, mountains, valleys etc. Remember, layer shading, spots, heights and contour lines are useful to help you understand the area. Thank you for listening to my podcast. Don't forget, geography is a part of everyday life. Don't stop having fun and keep learning.
