The Outsiders - Outdoor Guide Services

Ed from refining his winter mountaineering skills in the Baker Mountain Wilderness, North Cascades, WA.

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Winter trail etiquette.

Walking in snowshoes. It is fairly simple to just walk along with these extra items on your feet. Yet there is not only skill, but some etiquette involved too.

Breaking trail through deep snow will cause one to become fatigued very quickly, particularly if it is heavy snow. We strongly suggest that the group takes turn breaking trail with the person in the front breaking for say 100 to 200 steps, then stepping aside and going to the back of the line. This allows that person to walk on a well packed trail and not work as hard for a time, slowly moving back up through the group to the front again when they will be recovered enough to have the energy to break trail again. This roation can make a successful day for all when everyone shares the work!

Zigzag your steps up a slope rather than going straight up or down the slope.

You will often make a depression in the snow with your snowshoes. The next person should step in between the depressions and squish down the high spots. This makes a beautiful trail for those coming behind you. Always leave the trail better for the next persons.

Post holing is when someone decides not to wear snowshoes and makes deep holes in the snow with their foot rather than staying on top and packing down a trail with their snowshoes. This is unkind to others and potentially quite dangerous when a snowshoe tip falls into these holes, causing someone to trip. Please use the right gear and do not be a post holer.

Don't count on following tracks in the snow. We have often heard, well I can just follow someone elses tracks. Not necessarily so. Wind covers over tracks very quickly and even some types of snow will not provide many indentations when you pass through. Know where you are going through the use of navigation skills so that you do not need to depend solely on following some elses tracks in the snow.

Pace is another thing to consider. You always want to avoid sweating and getting wet when you can. You may slow down your pace a bit in winter so that you maintain a steady, non-sweating pace.

Spruce traps! Traps in the snow? Yes! As snow covers evergreen branches they will be weighted down and will bend down, but due to the branch structure there will be air pockets where no snow has collected. At some point later, an unsuspecting hiker will come along and take a step and fall down through those branches, sometimes several feet down! It is often difficult to get out of one of these spruce traps as a snowshoe gets caught under branches. These traps can be very exhausting and it is difficult for others to assist you. If they tried, they too may fall in. The best thing for them to do is take photos of you – lol!