How to build a plan that survives contact with the mountains.
The thinking Divide is built on, the documentation for the planner, and field notes from real trips. Written by Malcolm, kept current.
Philosophy
The model underneath the tool: cairns, routes, and divisions — and how to use them to manage risk.
Three ideas are enough to describe any trip — where you'll be, how you get between, and where the plan is allowed to change. Everything else hangs off them.
Why a plan is built from places-you-will-be, not from lines on a map — and what a cairn should carry before it counts as planned.
The space between two cairns is where trips fall apart. How to budget a leg honestly — mode, mileage, gain, and the hour you actually arrive.
A good plan names its forks in advance. What makes a real division — a condition, two branches, and a rule for choosing — and why "we'll see" isn't one.
Risk management with cairns, routes, and divisions: move every decision you can off the trail and onto the plan, and leave the mountain only the ones it insists on.
Hot springs and caves appear on Divide's map as an area, not a pin — on purpose, for everyone. Why the exact spot stays off the map, and what we ask of you instead.
Platform docs
How the planner models the ideas above. Short, current, and written against the real tool.
Build the trunk of the trip: add cairns to days, fill in the details, drag to reorder.
The leg between two cairns: mode, duration, distance, and custom modes.
Turn a route into a decision point with a condition and two named branches.
Attach the actual permit to the cairn that needs it. Lottery vs first-come, windows, status.
A forecast for each located cairn on its own date — how it refreshes and what gets flagged.
One read-only link for the group — what it shows, what it hides, and turning it off.
Day-colored markers, dashed branch cairns, the division line, and reading the profile.
Field notes
Trip-specific planning walkthroughs and gear thinking, from client work and my own trips.
