Tag Archives: winter hiking

Winter Hiking 3

Posted on by under All Hikers, Family hiking, Hikers, Backpackers, and Campers, The Outdoors, Trail Related
Snow shoes for hiking

Snow shoes

Winter hiking and backpacking

Winter boots with crampons

This post follows two earlier posts on winter hiking. Northern New England has snow, and some of southern New England got several inches of the white stuff already this month. There are places out west, in the Sierras for example, where the snow and ice never melt completely before seasonal snows arrive again. Prepare now to enjoy cold-weather hikes. If you live in the North and are training for a thru-hike, these winter posts have extra meaning for you.

The key word you hear for winter hiking is layers. And two thin layers are better than one thick one. Even for gloves. Rather than wear one big and bulky glove, wear a liner glove underneath a bigger glove. Same for socks. Don’t wear one extra-heavy thick sock; wear a liner sock beneath a heavier one. Most of all, clothe your body in layers so you can remove and add as conditions change. I get cold easily; I want to keep warm but when I sweat, I need to wick that moisture away. Layers enable me to do that.

For my upper body, I start with a polypropylene short-sleeve undershirt. I top this with a polypro long sleeve garment that has a neck riser. I put a long-sleeve fleece over this. This may be enough if I’m moving, but if I stop for any length of time, or if the weather worsens, I’ll add my Marmot shell, complete with hood to cover everything. Layers! And in an emergency, I’ve packed a puffy down jacket, to keep warm in–if I had to seek shelter and overnight. (On any extended hike, of course, I’d pack a sleeping bag and tent.)

For my lower body, I have polypropylene underpants, polypro leggings, and ski-pants. I don’t plan to hike in extreme weather, so this should be okay. Just be able to remove or add a layer.

Other points for winter hiking:

1) Gaiters. They will keep snow from getting into your boots. Your socks stay dry.

2) Bring a spare hat; pack extra gloves and socks. The wind can sail your hat; you may not be able to retrieve it. You could drop your glove in a stream.

3) Pack a body size piece of Tyvek—the insulation used by contractors. You can fold it up to sit on, and also lay it under your sleeping pad.

Just remember, winter hiking means staying warm and keeping dry. Bring lots to drink and plenty to eat and you’ll be fine.

Hiking in harsh weather

Shell by Marmot

Winter Hiking

Posted on by under All Hikers, Family hiking, Hikers, Backpackers, and Campers, Long-distance hiking, The Outdoors
Winter hiking and backpacking

Winter boots with crampons

I’m mostly a three-season hiker; I seldom hike in winter. Yet, I’ve always enjoyed it, especially when the snow is light and easy to walk through. I’ve never gone on an extended winter hike, but I’ve attended workshops to educate me.

You may ask, as I did, why hike in winter? It’s cold, raw, and icy; it can be dangerous; it seems like a big hassle. All true, but the rewards are great. The pristine beauty of nature, fewer people, peace and quiet, those things make up for a lot. Plus, it’s a superb way to lose weight and toughen up. Proper clothing and equipment will keep one warm and safe.

To start off, here are just a few of the things I learned at a winter workshop:

1) Don’t dress too warmly while you are moving; save your warmest clothing for whenever you stop moving. Your sweat needs to be wicked away. If you are covered in a puffy down jacket while moving, you trap all that moisture. That explains what I saw once when a cross-country skier unbuttoned his thick puffy jacket—the inside was all frozen. Not good.

2) Keep food handy, bite sized, and ready to eat. You will burn an enormous amount of energy, as you can imagine. You need to snack often, and conditions aren’t good for sit-down cooked meals. If you are wearing gloves, and are bundled up, you need food accessible in handy pockets. Pre-open the snacks and put them in baggies or containers that you can open or unscrew with gloves. Cut the food up ahead of time into mouth-sized portions.

3) Store your water bottle upside-down. Water freezes at the top; when you turn the bottle right-side up, you won’t have ice.

4) Fasten pull-ties on those little zipper handles. When you have to void, you can keep your gloves on if you have ties on those tiny zipper handles. Use shoe lace, trash bag ties, anything. When you snack, you can keep your gloves on as you unzip pockets.

There is so much more. We’ll take it a little at a time. Happy trails.

Grey Jay

Image via Wikipedia

Winter Hiking 3

Posted on by under All Hikers, Family hiking, Hikers, Backpackers, and Campers, The Outdoors, Trail Related

This post follows two earlier posts on winter hiking. Northern New England has snow, and most of southern New England got many inches of the white stuff already this month. There are places out west, in the Sierras for example, where the snow and ice never melt completely before seasonal snows arrive again. Prepare now to enjoy cold-weather hikes. If you live in the North and are training for a thru-hike, these winter posts have extra meaning for you.

The key word you hear for winter hiking is layers. And two thin layers are better than one thick one. Even for gloves. Rather than wear one big and bulky glove, wear a liner glove underneath a bigger glove. Same for socks. Don’t wear one extra-heavy thick sock; wear a liner sock beneath a heavier one. Most of all, clothe your body in layers so you can remove and add as conditions change. I get cold easily; I want to keep warm but when I sweat, I need to wick that moisture away. Layers enable me to do that.

For my upper body, I start with a polypropylene short-sleeve undershirt. I top this with a polypro long sleeve garment that has a neck riser. I put a long-sleeve fleece over this. This may be enough if I’m moving, but if I stop for any length of time, or if the weather worsens, I’ll add my Marmot shell, complete with hood to cover everything. Layers! And in an emergency, I’ve packed a puffy down jacket, to keep warm in–if I had to seek shelter and overnight. (On any extended hike, of course, I’d pack a sleeping bag and tent.)

For my lower body, I have polypropylene underpants, polypro leggings, and ski-pants. I don’t plan to hike in extreme weather, so this should be okay. Just be able to remove or add a layer.

Other points for winter hiking:

1) Gaiters. They will keep snow from getting into your boots. Your socks stay dry.

2) Bring a spare hat; pack extra gloves and socks. The wind can sail your hat; you may not be able to retrieve it. You could drop your glove in a stream.

3) Pack a body size piece of Tyvek—the insulation used by contractors. You can fold it up to sit on, and also lay it under your sleeping pad.

Just remember, winter hiking means staying warm and keeping dry. Bring lots to drink and plenty to eat and you’ll be fine.

Hiking in harsh weather

Shell by Marmot

Winter Hike-Blue Hills Reservation

Posted on by under All Hikers, Family hiking, Hikers, Backpackers, and Campers, The Outdoors
Appalachian Mountain Club logo

Image via Wikipedia

Took a six-mile hike with the southeastern chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) on Sunday morning. It was eighteen degrees at the start, and two hours later the temperature reached an astonishing high of twenty-one. It was cold!

As I drove into the Houghton’s Pond parking lot of the Blue Hills Reservation, hikers were stamping their feet, pulling down their knit hats, and slapping their gloved hands to keep warm. Once we got hiking, we were less distracted by the cold. We all took short, quick steps, and I pulled my shell hood up over my hat.

Although there wasn’t any snow, this was, indeed, a winter hike. And I made one mistake. I didn’t prepare my water bottle properly. I simply filled it and let it hang, uncovered. It froze and I had to bang it against tree trunks to free up the ice and suck down the liquid of life. I hadn’t remembered what I’d learned in the AMC’s winter hiking workshop. Pack your water in a cozy; use a wide mouth bottle, not the skinny-necked bottle I had. And it helps to fill the bottle with warmish water. I had done none of these things and would have encountered problems on an extended hike.

We took an easy trail and finished ahead of schedule. I dressed in layers and felt comfortable most of the time. If I had worked up a sweat, I would have removed my fleece vest and yanked off my hood. One thing I did remember to do was to pre-cut my snacks into bite sized chunks and have them readily available in plastic baggies. I saw one hiker remove his gloves and struggle to tear open a Power Bar. I watched a woman fuss around as she tried to open zipped pockets with her gloves on. I’d made sure I had long ties on my zippers so I could pull them while wearing gloves.

See the picture with the log-branch? It lay right in the middle of the trail. We all tried to move it to the side, but it wouldn’t budge! Just like nature–tough, unrelenting. But this was a nice hike with good people, all out for exercise and camaraderie.

hiking-blue hills

AMC winter hike--Blue Hills Reservation

Winter Hiking 3

Posted on by under All Hikers, Family hiking, Hikers, Backpackers, and Campers, The Outdoors, Trail Related

This post follows two earlier posts on winter hiking. Northern New England has snow, and some of southern New England got several inches of the white stuff already this month. There are places out west, in the Sierras for example, where the snow and ice never melt completely before seasonal snows arrive again. Prepare now to enjoy cold-weather hikes. If you live in the North and are training for a thru-hike, these winter posts have extra meaning for you.

The key word you hear for winter hiking is layers. And two thin layers are better than one thick one. Even for gloves. Rather than wear one big and bulky glove, wear a liner glove underneath a bigger glove. Same for socks. Don’t wear one extra-heavy thick sock; wear a liner sock beneath a heavier one. Most of all, clothe your body in layers so you can remove and add as conditions change. I get cold easily; I want to keep warm but when I sweat, I need to wick that moisture away. Layers enable me to do that.

For my upper body, I start with a polypropylene short-sleeve undershirt. I top this with a polypro long sleeve garment that has a neck riser. I put a long-sleeve fleece over this. This may be enough if I’m moving, but if I stop for any length of time, or if the weather worsens, I’ll add my Marmot shell, complete with hood to cover everything. Layers! And in an emergency, I’ve packed a puffy down jacket, to keep warm in–if I had to seek shelter and overnight. (On any extended hike, of course, I’d pack a sleeping bag and tent.)

For my lower body, I have polypropylene underpants, polypro leggings, and ski-pants. I don’t plan to hike in extreme weather, so this should be okay. Just be able to remove or add a layer.

Other points for winter hiking:

1) Gaiters. They will keep snow from getting into your boots. Your socks stay dry.

2) Bring a spare hat; pack extra gloves and socks. The wind can sail your hat; you may not be able to retrieve it. You could drop your glove in a stream.

3) Pack a body size piece of Tyvek—the insulation used by contractors. You can fold it up to sit on, and also lay it under your sleeping pad.

Just remember, winter hiking means staying warm and keeping dry. Bring lots to drink and plenty to eat and you’ll be fine.

Hiking in harsh weather

Shell by Marmot

Winter Hiking

Posted on by under All Hikers, Family hiking, Hikers, Backpackers, and Campers, The Outdoors
Snow shoes for hiking

Snow shoes

Winter hiking and backpacking
Winter boots with crampons

I have a confession to make. Until now, I’ve only been a three-season hiker. I’ve never hiked in winter; I’ve never set out to backpack snow-covered trails. That’s about to change.

This past weekend, I attended a winter hiking workshop hosted by my local Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) chapter. I learned a lot and invite you to learn more with me. If I’m going to blog about hiking, I need to fix this knowledge gap, so I’ll be posting about winter hiking off and on these next few months.

You may ask, as I did, why hike in winter? It’s cold, raw, and icy; it can be dangerous; it seems like a big hassle. All true, but I’m told the rewards are great. The pristine beauty of nature, fewer people, peace and quiet, a superb way to lose weight and toughen up. Proper clothing and equipment will keep one warm and safe.

To start off, here are just a few of the things I learned at the winter workshop:

1) Don’t dress too warmly while you are moving; save your warmest clothing for whenever you stop moving. Your sweat needs to be wicked away. If you are covered in a puffy down jacket while moving, you trap all that moisture. That explains what I saw once when a cross-country skier unbuttoned his thick puffy jacket—the inside was all frozen. Not good.

2) Keep food handy, bite sized, and ready to eat. You will burn an enormous amount of energy, as you can imagine. You need to snack often, and conditions aren’t good for sit-down cooked meals. If you are wearing gloves, and are bundled up, you need food accessible in handy pockets. Pre-open the snacks and put them in baggies or containers that you can open or unscrew with gloves. Cut the food up ahead of time into mouth-sized portions.

3) Store your water bottle upside-down. Water freezes at the top; when you turn the bottle right-side up, you won’t have ice.

4) Fasten pull-ties on those little zipper handles. When you have to void, you can keep your gloves on if you have ties on those tiny zipper handles. Use shoe lace, trash bag ties, anything. When you snack, you can keep your gloves on as you unzip pockets.

There is so much more. We’ll take it a little at a time. Happy trails.

Grey Jay

Image via Wikipedia