Marking your route for rescuers – and reading trail marks

A search is like a puzzle. Search teams start where you were last seen or where your car is parked, and narrow the area with every clue: a footprint, a lost glove, a statement. A deliberately laid arrow or a note with the time is the most valuable clue, because it says not only that you were here but also when and where you went.

For a sign to be recognised as deliberate, it must stand out from nature. In nature there are hardly any straight lines, right angles and regular shapes. A large arrow of straight sticks, a cross or a row of evenly laid stones therefore stands out. The larger and the higher the contrast, the better.

Existing trail marks work on the same principle, only permanently. Paint marks on trees and stones, signposts and cairns are placed so that from one mark you can see the next. Anyone who goes from mark to mark cannot lose the way – as long as they turn back when they lose the markings.

The note at your starting point is the most important thing. Write down name, date, time, direction, reason, condition of the group and your plan – for example: 'Max M., 12 Oct, 2:30 p.m., two of us, uninjured, we are following the stream downhill to the south to find a road.' Put it in a bag for protection and leave it clearly visible: at eye level on a branch or under a stone in the middle of the path.

You lay arrows at every junction and wherever you leave a path – at least one big step long, with the tip pointing your way. Between junctions, conspicuous things at eye level help, such as marker tape or a piece of coloured cloth, placed so that the next can be seen from each one. Footprints in soft ground are clues too.

When reading existing trail marks: only move on when you can see the next mark. In Austria hiking trails are marked red-white-red, often with the trail number in the white field, and signposts give destination and walking time. In Switzerland hiking trails are marked yellow and mountain trails white-red-white. On rock and scree, cairns show the way.

Marking does not replace the decision whether you should move at all. The STOP rule comes first. If someone knows where you are, it is usually better to stay at a visible place. With phone signal, call 112; in Austria you can also reach the mountain rescue on 140.

If you lose the markings on a marked path, go back to the last mark you were sure of. Faint tracks leading away from the markings often lead nowhere or into dangerous terrain. And a marking says nothing about whether the route suits you, your equipment and the weather.

Signs of your own make sense when you must leave your spot in a genuine emergency, when a group splits up to fetch help, or when you need to mark a route to find your way back to injured people. In such situations they are an important part of your rescue.

On normal trips you do not build signs of your own or new cairns. They can mislead others, change the landscape and are not tolerated in protected areas. Carving bark or breaking branches off living trees is not necessary even in an emergency – sticks and stones from the ground are enough.

The best marking is a trip plan left behind: anyone who knows which route you wanted to take and when you wanted to be back can search much earlier and more precisely. The note in the field adds to this plan if you had to depart from it.

Leave No Trace applies to emergency signs too. When the emergency is over or you were only practising, remove arrows, crosses, tape and any cairns of your own and scatter sticks and stones. Feel free to practise marking with children as a game – but take everything down at the end.