In steep terrain, elevation is a great way to find your location. Suppose I know that I'm on a certain lateral feature - a ridge, canyon, or watercourse. By kno

In steep terrain, elevation is a great way to find your location. Suppose I know that I'm on a certain lateral feature - a ridge, canyon, or watercourse. By knowing my precise elevation, I can determine my exact location. This helps me navigate as well as quickly guesstimate my current pace / progress. If I know I will spend all day ascending gradually on a valley glacier from 4000 m to 5000 m, in 1 second I can check my altimeter and know how far I've come when a handheld GPS will spend 30 seconds trying to get a fix. If someone is trying to state the location of, for instance, a good bivy site on a rock climbing route, "1890 m on the SE ridge" is equally as precise as the GPS coordinates, but much more descriptive.