checking off each valley on the chart with a time as you pass it is fundamental to knowing where you are
Unfortunately a standard 1:500000 chart is pretty useless in the mountains. 1cm represents 5 km, which can easily be enough for two valleys separated by a mountain. They'll only be identifiable on the chart by changes in colour - if they make it onto the chart at all. If the visibility is at all bad, you can easily be fooled into turning into a narrow valley thinking that it is the large one you can see on your chart.
It's better to use a 1:200000 scale map, with contour lines on it. Much better still, if you're going to be flying often in the same area, is to get to recognise the major features with a local pilot then not have to use the map at all in flight.
Floppy Link
if caught in a downdraft it will eventually stop
Yes....... but it may stop so close to the ground that you will crash anyway. Or it'll be a downdraft over a slope which won't stop before it reaches the bottom of the valley; if you're flying over that bit of slope at the time.....
I know of two accidents in the last year that were caused this way. One a PA28 which ended up on a glacier (although the downdraft was only one of many factors that caused that), and the other a high performance glider that ended up in the trees.
P.S. Nice P47!
