A Trail Map You Can’t Wrinkle

The solution to ripped, wrinkled trailmaps may be a cloth.

While at Crested Butte a couple of weeks ago, I was given a localized version of The Spanky. Short for “Sports Hanky,” the spanky is a cloth that can be used as a fabric for cleaning off your goggles, and more importantly, for finding your way around the mountain.

A key element to the product, according to the company’s web site, is a “fabric that will not scratch today’s high tech len’s surface.” They claims that it’s safe for goggles and camera lenses as well.

Buried in the cloth is a trail map of Crested Butte. I always like having a trail map with me, but paper maps quickly become wrinkled, ripped, torn, and worse, rendered into several pieces through repeated acts of placing in and removing from coat pockets.

That can’t happen with the Spanky. Though mine get a bit wrinkled and in need of cleaning, it’s all in one piece, even after three days on the mountain and the trip home.

The Spanky doesn’t take the place of a paper map, however. Before heading out to a mountain for the first time, get a paper map and study it carefully. Take a look at the statistics, such as elevation and lift hours, that aren’t on The Spanky. Get familiar with the names of slopes that you’d like to visit. The names of black trails show up very well on my copy, but the names of green trails are harder to see, and some of the blue names are very difficult to read at all.

The company has over 40 resorts represented in its inventory, including 11 mountains in Colorado alone. You can get one for under $15–$8.95 plus shipping, handling, and tax as applicable.

If you’re going to a place for just a day or two, The Spanky is on the spendy side. But if you’re going to be somewhere 3 or more days, it may be more worthwhile.