From "Nice-to-Have" to "Non-Negotiable": Why 3 Expedition Providers Say They Won’t Go Back

Wendy Weremiuk
Feb 3
4 min read

For years, the "waiting game" was just part of the job description for expedition instructors. It meant freezing on mountaintops based on rough estimations, or sitting in a field wondering if a group was tenå minutes away or two hours off-course.

"You used to be running around like a headless chicken," explains Matt from Karos Adventure. "You’re trying to put yourself in the mindset of a fourteen-year-old, guessing where they might have turned wrong."

But for Matt and his colleague Claire Cottee (Karos Adventures), along with Alex Pringle (Pringle’s Peaks) and Jeremy Hepworth (Hepworth Adventures), that era is over. Speaking at the recent Approved Activity Provider conference, these three providers—who run hundreds of expeditions annually—revealed how they moved from skepticism to a firm realisation:

tracking doesn't just improve safety; it transforms the entire operational model.

1. The End of "Static" Supervision

Jeremy Hepworth, contrasted using trackers with the 'old way' of doing things. "You spent all your time waiting around in a field going 'they were due here at 11:00, it's now 11:30, where do we start looking?'". His instructors are still out there, still supervising, but now with GPS tracking from TrackTrail ® they can position themselves strategically rather than guessing. With trackers, supervision shifts from static (waiting) to dynamic (intercepting).

"We're remotely supervising them," Jeremy explains. "If we can get instructors to them quickly, it's way better than guessing 'well they were somewhere here and their checkpoint was here.' We can look, see where they are, drive up that road, and get to them." This shift allows instructors to intervene before a navigation error turns into a crisis of confidence.

Both Claire Cottee from Karos Adventure and Alex Pringle emphasised the psychological impact this has on students. "If you can intercept them sooner without them just sitting and waiting to be found... especially if the weather's bad, it certainly helps them keep going," Claire explains. Instead of a "lost day" where morale collapses, the group gets back on track quickly. As Claire notes, "There's nothing worse than a day where you lost a group for a whole day."

Alex Pringle noticed that when her instructor team can intervene earlier, before groups become exhausted and demoralised, the whole expedition improves. "The children don't get so tired and grumpy, so they enjoy it more. We can take on more learning opportunities when we can correct them quicker." Her staff love it because it has reduced the stress during expeditions.

Matt explains the impact. "At Bronze, pre-trackers, you get a phone call: 'We're lost. We can see a tree, we're in a field.' You're trying to put yourself in the mindset of a fourteen-year-old, where they might have turned wrong. You used to be running around like a headless chicken. Now you can pull the tracker up, get straight to them, get to them quickly and sort them out. It reduces their stress, and reduces our stress."

2. The Legal Reality Check

While efficiency improves the day, the safety argument protects the business. Matt poses a question that every provider needs to ask:

"We asked ourselves: if there was an incident, what could our defence have been? Trackers are readily available technology. What's our reason for not using them?".

He draws a parallel to mobile phones. "Early days in the outdoors, people got scorned for taking a mobile phone. These days, if a group went out without one and something went wrong, you'd be in front of a judge with no defence. I think trackers are reaching that same level.".

Jeremy shared a sobering example that proves this theory. On a Gold practice expedition in the Lake District, a student with Type 1 diabetes experienced a hypoglycemic episode. The group triggered the SOS button on their GPS tracker which sends an alert to three nominated phone numbers from the team leading the expedition.

"We got to them in minutes, not hours," Jeremy recalls.

While Mountain Rescue had been alerted, Jeremy’s team could reach the specific coordinates immediately. "We were liaising with Mountain Rescue saying, 'we know where they are, we can get to them.' We stood Mountain Rescue down because we could deal with it.".

3. Protecting Relationships (and Landowners)

Beyond safety, the trackers solve a subtle but stressful problem: reputation management. Claire highlights how the technology helps prevent friction with local landowners.

"Groups going off into private land... clearly where there's a potential of landowner conflict," Claire says. "Being able to get there sooner rather than later definitely helps.". By catching a group the moment they stray off a public footpath, instructors can prevent a trespassing complaint before it happens, keeping landowners on side for future seasons.

4. The Business Case

A common fear in the industry is that technology will replace skilled staff, leading to a culture of "supervising from the café." All three providers were quick to shut this down.

"We make a point of them being in addition to supervision," says Matt. Alex agrees, describing trackers not as a replacement, but as "another tool in the toolbox to help ease the workload." It removes the stress of the unknown, allowing instructors to focus on student welfare rather than navigation guesswork.

Beyond the hill, the data gathered during expeditions provides unexpected value, back at the planning stage. Alex uses the "breadcrumb trails" for post-expedition analysis.

"If multiple groups are getting lost in one area, we can look at putting in provisions in the future." It turns near-misses into future lesson plans.

And the cost objection? It turned out to be a myth. "I didn't look into trackers initially because I thought they were going to be really expensive," Alex admits. "Actually, I’ve been pleasantly surprised. They’re worth the money."

The Verdict

For those on the fence, the advice from these experts is uniform: Just try it.

"Rent one, try it out," urges Alex.

As Matt concludes, "It just makes expeditions so much less stressful. Particularly in complex areas, it makes life so much easier. Definitely worth it.".

Thank you to our customers for their reviews, you can find more information about these outdoor activity providers below: Pringle's Peaks: https://www.pringlespeaks.co.uk/

Hepworth Adventures: https://hepworthadventures.co.uk Karos Adventures: https://www.karosadventure.com/