The Positives of Winter Hiking

[Stash]

I just got in from a nearly full moon walk with the dogs in the woods. It's so clear and bright that I didn't need a headlight to navigate through a section of birches (though it gets a little dark among the pines) and got me thinking of so many of the positives of winter hiking...

• Moonlight isn't obscured by the leaves on the trees
• The sky seems that much clearer
• The snow makes the trail so much smoother! Knees say thank you.
• I get to play with all that fancy foot gear (microspikes, crampons, snowshoes)
• My poles don't get stuck between rocks and bend
• It feels really comfy in a sleeping bag
• You can actually justify a fire when car camping
• No bugs!!!

I'm sure there are are as many reasons for other times of year but this stuff really works for me.

Any additions to the pro-winter list?

 

[dug]

No bugs, no mud, no crowds.

 

[cushetunk]

The untracked gnar to schralp!

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

The snow makes the trail so much smoother!

My favorite quote from Steve Smith's excellent Snowshoe Hikes in the White Mountains:

Descent times are often much faster than summer, especially if you have a softly packed snowshoe trail. A joyful swoop down in these conditions can take half as long as picking your way down a rocky, rooty trail in summer.

I have boldened the word "joyful"; that is, for me, the essence of winter hiking.

 

[Lefty E]

Terrain such as landslides and frozen brooks and trails one would not see in 3 season are much more visible this time of year..some mts seem to develop eyes in the winter, from sun glinting on small ledges..and a full moon also making a ledge shine brightly..

 

[TrishandAlex]

The air seems cleaner, fresher.

Animal tracks galore.

It's fun knowing that the summit cairn is way down there somewhere.

It's also fun reading an ankle-high trail sign.

Better views as you approach the top due to the high snowpack.

It's a smaller hiking world in the winter...I almost always run into someone I know or have heard of.

 

[Ridgewalker]

One word: Isolation (no not the mountain)

 

[KRobi]

I agree with all the reasons already stated plus....
"Butt sliding" (really hurts in the summer!) and snowshoe skiing downhill.
Awesome shapes that the snow forms on the trees.
Bright blue sky.
Views you can't get in the summer.

 

[Ed'n Lauky]

And you get to strengthen your legs and heart by carrying a pack that's 15 lbs too heavy with all that "just in case stuff."

And you make better time because you don't linger on those peaks in the -15* wind chill.

And you get to dig yourself out of those neat spruce traps.

And when you get back to the car you find that there was never a chance of your losing your keys because your pocket zipper is frozen shut.

Also when you get back to your car you get to "linger" at the trailhead in the dark for twenty minutes or so while you try to figure out how to get those keys out of your pocket so you can get home.

When you decide you will cut your pocket open with your pocket knife you find it is frozen in the other pocket.

 

[Brambor]

DaBears

The bears are sleeping ;-)

 

[MischiefWinter]

Thoughts of a winter walk...

It's clean, there is a purity to the air and to the land. Everything about existence that trips you up is blanketed in a peaceful quilt of cold. It's a form of rebirth. There are no dark marks to blemish the landscape, only beauty and the simple white of tranquility.

 

[PETCH]

Yes, all the reasons above and perhaps just a few more:

- Frozen facial stalactites
- Taking pictures of flamingos is easier because they posthole in the snow
- No need to bring a cooler to keep the beer cold in the car
- Chili always tastes better after a cold day on the trail
- The can of Spam in your pack won't go bad (not like it would anyway)
- Getting nailed in the head repeatedly by branches (occasionally drawing blood)
- At least a slim chance of getting to use that ice axe that looks so cool on your pack
- Yellow is such a pretty contrast to the white snow
- Cold weather induced asthma
- A reason to hang one of those cheap thermometers on the zipper of your pack
- Snow bombs from overhead spruce branches
- Isolation (yes, the mountain)
- The chance to kill kittens (even if you like kittens)

I could just keep going, but I'll stop here

Petch

 

[HockeyPuck]

There is no better therapy to relieve the stress of my day than the purity of a long deep breath of cold clean winter air and looking up at the deepest blue skies.

 

[Hiking with Kat]

Just not being stuck in doors makes you feel like you are getting away with something.

I personally think the mountains are much more beautiful in winter.

 

[DiamondRidge]

- the looks one gets when hauling a full sized sled up Moosilauke...
- the better looks one gets when the children are cruising down the mountain in said sled...
- rime ice
- empty parking lots
- quiet

 

[mtruman]

- The beauty of the snow covered forest
- Views from the peaks that otherwise don't have them
- The complete and utter silence in the snow covered forest on a calm day
- The incredible deep blue of the winter sky

 

[Tom Rankin]

Reading this makes me want to leave the office, and drive straight to a trailhead! I'm outta here...........!!!

 

[Ed'n Lauky]

And you get to strengthen your legs and heart by carrying a pack that's 15 lbs too heavy with all that "just in case stuff."

And you make better time because you don't linger on those peaks in the -15* wind chill.

And you get to dig yourself out of those neat spruce traps.

And when you get back to the car you find that there was never a chance of your losing your keys because your pocket zipper is frozen shut.

Also when you get back to your car you get to "linger" at the trailhead in the dark for twenty minutes or so while you try to figure out how to get those keys out of your pocket so you can get home.

When you decide you will cut your pocket open with your pocket knife you find it is frozen in the other pocket.

Oh yes, and I forgot to add those really stimulating road walks at the beginning and the end of the hikes.

 

[Elizabeth]

Stinky stuff that the dogs like to roll in is either covered by snow or frozen solid.

 

[Little Rickie]

Stillness. Panoramic, crystaline, soul filling, silence.