Adventure guide insights: Mark Allen
Chatting with Mountain Bureau founder | Part 1
Mark Allen | Mountain Bureau | Part 1
As part of our guide insights series we spoke with AMGA/IFMGA-certified guide Mark Allen of the Mountain Bureau, a leading global guide service with adventures in Washington, Alaska, the desert SW, Western Canada, Western Europe, and Lofoten, Norway. Mark's deep experience includes climbing , skiing, and guiding with over 200 summits of Cascade Volcanoes, hundreds of classic American and Canadian alpine summits, a wide spectrum of ascents in the European Alps. He has spent a lifetime on backcountry touring skis and has a wealth of information to share with clients of all skill levels. This is part one of the conversation and covers some pro tips on exporting a ski tour plan to a map that's usable in the field.
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This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
In the GPS geospatial reader, I can have three free maps, so I might make three maps depending on what I'm doing.
Up here, the DPI controls the resolution. I have a pro version, though I'm not logged in right now. You can increase this to 400 DPI, though 200 DPI is pretty good. This creates a geospatial PDF that stays live on the internet for seven days, and it saves as a URL. So I can print this map... and now I'm just going to copy the URL. I can share this with you via email. On your phone, just download Avenza Maps - it's for offline mapping. You don't need to log in or anything, just open it up. Open this map on your computer, and you'll see the QR code at the bottom. You can scan that with your phone.
This is how I share maps in the parking lot with my friends. I make custom maps, and once you get on the map, the blue dot will show up. I like this because you can preemptively draw routes, or you don't even need to pick a route - you can just make a map with the slope shading and download it to your phone for free. No one has to subscribe to anything or pay any money. You don't have to convince people to use it - just tell them to download the app so you can share the map. It's free, you do it in the parking lot, you have a backup GPS unit, and since it's a geospatial PDF and not a layer in an app, it's almost as good as a paper map. It's pretty sweet.
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