7 Reasons I Love Winter Hiking
How Snow and Ice Actually Make Hiking MORE Enjoyable
What do I do when I’m waiting for warm weather hiking days? Bundle up for some winter hikes! Every season has its pros and cons but if you can appreciate the pros of hiking in cold weather, you’re liable to have a lot more fun than sitting at home waiting for summer. Here are some of my favorite things about hiking in the season of snow and ice.
1. The Quiet
From fewer people to fewer animals, something about the snow brings a level of peace and stillness you can’t find during the rest of the year. The snow falls so gently, yet makes such an impact on the landscape. If I stop long enough to keep my gear from swooshing about and allow for my breath to slow, I realize the quiet that’s around me and get that feeling of needing to whisper to maintain it.
2. Temperature Regulation
I’m someone who hates to be hot. Really, I hate being cold too, but in the heat of summer you can only peel off so many layers before you feel like peeling off your skin. Combine the heat with humidity? Forget it. I’ll take crisp air, access to self-cooling (snow), and finding my perfect moving temperature with combinations of layers.
3. Easier Terrain
Northeast hikers especially know the rocks, roots, staircases, and ladders (literal as well as sections that just feel like staircases and ladders) require careful stepping and have a very different impact than smooth trails or switchbacks. A good snowpack eliminates these collectively exhausting little challenges and gives the feeling of practically gliding up the trail. Even well after spring has sprung in the valleys, the snowpack on trails can remain and provide a raised ‘monorail’ for prolonged winter hiking benefits.
4. BUTT SLEDDING!
As for gliding down the trail, one of winter’s greatest gifts to hikers is the act of butt sledding or glissading. While not possible without solid snowpack due to the aforementioned rocks, roots, etc., fewer things are more fun than sliding down a smooth trail after the victory of a summit or incredible view. I tend to have enough layers that I’ll sit and slide right on my bottom, but there are butt sleds that attach to your hiking pack, too.
5. Fewer Water Crossings
I love a frozen waterfall and the contrast between them and the rushing water of the warmer seasons, but the real benefit when it comes to water in winter is simply less of it. Some trails have water crossings that either have to be waded or rock-hopped while the river is flowing, but in winter snowpack can form on the banks and across the rocks, creating a frozen trail extension if not a full bridge of ice.
6. Outstanding Views
Green is my favorite color, but the countless tones of blue, gray, and white that make winter vistas sparkle are captivating in their own right. There’s a freshness and cleanliness in the air when everything is covered in a blanket of snow and you can see snowcapped peaks for miles. It’s hard to want to hike down no matter how cold it is on those days when the weather agrees and gives you a bluebird day in the mountains.
7. Solitude
I get so much joy out of spending time in the mountains with friends and loved ones and I think everyone deserves to enjoy the same. It goes without saying, though, that some of us are out there at least some of the time with the goal of getting away from people… all people. I find that winter, and weekdays especially, are great for my solitude-seeking side when I’m looking to get some trail time without seeing more than a soul or two.
