Winter Hiking

If you do a lot of hiking, climbing, snowshoeing or skiing in winter in the mountains and you haven’t had any avalanche training, I suggest you get some. In addition, I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain by Bruce Tremper. This is …

Is it better to buy a winter sleeping bag with a waterproof/breathable shell fabric or to just use a waterproof/breathable bivy sack instead? The idea of covering a sleeping bag with a waterproof/breathable shell fabric is appealing because it would mean that you don’t need to carry a bivy sack to sleep in …

If you’re standing on a 5,000 foot mountain in a whiteout, in winter, in blowing wind, with a cliff behind you, the last thing you want are fogged up goggles. Here are a few tricks I’ve picked up over the years to keep seeing straight and clear, and away from the …

If you’ve done any backpacking, you should be familiar with the practice of layering your clothing: you take layers of clothing off when you get too hot and start to sweat and you put them back on again when you start to get cold. Layering lets the sweat you generate …

The size of snowshoe you need depends on your body weight, the weight of your gear, snow type, and whether you snowshoe on broken-out trails or travel cross-country, on fresh powder. But if you are about to buy a new pair of snowshoes, don’t take manufacturer’s size recommendations as gospel. …

One of the biggest challenges faced by winter hikers is figuring out a clothing layering system that keeps them warm and dry across a wide variety of temperatures, wind chills, and exertion levels. It takes a lot of experimentation to dial in a system that works for you and it’s …

Winter hikers and snowshoers often have difficulty staying properly hydrated in cold weather because winter hiking is physically more challenging and the physical act of drinking is more involved than simply sipping from a hydration hose, what with heavy winter gloves and insulated containers. I usually carry two or three …

Black Diamond FirstLight Tent and a very stealthy MLD cuben fiber Duomid Sub-pound, floor-less pyramids are very lightweight, but free-standing tents pitch in minutes. Which is the right choice for winter backpacking and mountaineering, when pack weight and space are at a premium? Pitching a floorless pyramid on snow takes …

This is a serious issue, because I see a lot of people do this improperly, opening themselves to a potentially serious injury. ??To remedy that, I’m going to demonstrate how you should do this safely, in a way that prevents the axe pick from puncturing your hip if (when) you …

There’s no doubt that Kahtoola Microspikes revolutionized winter traction and opened up winter hiking to a much wider audience. Before microspikes came along, most hikers had to purchase mountaineering boots and crampons if they wanted to hike on icy trails, which required proper training to use safely not to mention …

Reynolds Oven Bags! work great as vapor barrier liners for your winter boots because they’re super durable, and relatively inexpensive. Vapor Barrier Clothing If you’re not familiar with Vapor Barrier clothing, you haven’t been reading Section Hiker long enough. I’ve been messing around with the idea for years after being introduced …

My fingertips froze on a winter hike last February when I took off my gloves to adjust a pair of ski goggles and my hands came in contact with fresh snow. It was freezing out and the wind was blowing, the snow melted on my fingers and I guess my …

Winter day hiking and snowshoeing require a higher degree of physical fitness than hiking during the rest of the year because you need to carry more clothes, gear, emergency supplies, food and all of the water you need in sub-freezing weather. How much more depends on the type of terrain, …

I used to get up extra early on the days when we’d drive to the mountains for winter hiking, so I could boil water for my water bottles. Since we’d meet in downtown Boston at 5 AM, this meant getting up at 4 AM to get ready. Those days are …