Before we go any
further, I would like to differentiate hiking or trekking from mountaineering
or snow climbing by a single criterion: slope angle. If slopes are gentler than
25-30 degrees, then its hiking and you can use your boots or microspikes with hiking
or skiing poles. For terrain slopes nearing 30 degrees or more (which is also the typical slope of staircases), its
mountaineering and you would require the use of full crampons and an ice axe. A
key note to understand here, is that snow hikes/ climbs can be fairly steep.
During summer (or any non-snow season) hiking trails typically apply methods
such as switch-backs that keep the terrain angle low. For example, a hike in
which you gain 1000 ft elevation per mile is considered as pretty strenuous
hike in summer. However, that is just 10.9 degrees! In winter, everything is
covered in snow, and there are multiple ways of going from point A to B. Thus,
it is very possible to hike up really steep slopes. Most folks are unable to
accurately gauge terrain slopes by eye-balling. There are objective ways of
measuring slopes such using a clinometer, or keeping a contour map. Getting on
(and directly below) slopes above 25 degrees can create avalanche possibility
that could be fatal for you, your groups, or others, and that is not the focus
of this writeup. Hence, I am limiting the scope of this article to slopes below
25 degrees or in other words, 'hikable terrain'.
In the American
southwest, when you extend your summer hiking into winter, you reach an
obstacle: snow. If the snow is fresh but has been compacted by people walking
over it before you did, you can just hike on it as if it weren't there. If the
snow is icy (this generally happens when it is above freezing during day and
below freezing during night), you can wear microspikes and it feels very
similar to normal hiking, just a tiny bit slower. However, if you step outside
the packed trail, into the soft, uncompacted snow, your foot would sink through
the snow (sometimes waist-deep!) since the snow density is too low. This is
called post-holing. It gets very tiring to come out of this snow only to sink
again when taking the next step. If nobody else has been there before you, the
snow is considered 'unbroken' and you have to 'break a trail' out of it. If you
are trail breaking with just hiking boots, you will likely posthole every step,
and even a mile would seem like ten. Its brutally inefficient.
So, if you are
serious about winter hiking, you will need a way to extend your step's surface
area so that your weight gets distributed over a larger area and you will be
able to walk on soft uncompacted snow without sinking in it. Then you have just
two options: snowshoes or skis. Snowshoes are incredibly easy to learn:
"What are the 10 steps to learn snowshoeing? -> You attach them, and
then walk 9 steps". Snowshoes have crampons attached to them. This way you
can climb up steep terrain of about 20-30 degrees (depending on the snow
quality and the snowshoe type) on them. However, snowshoes do sink a bit while
breaking the trail, and you have to lift them completely off the snow
(obviously) before taking the next step. This needs lot of energy (though
certainly less than post-holing). Also, you have to do this when coming
downhill as well (obviously), though depending on the terrain, runout (the area
where you would slide to if you slip), and snow conditions, you may consider
removing them, sitting and sliding down the slope. This is called glissading.
There are many types of snowshoes available, but the only ones that can do
steeps (upper range of the hiking domain: 20-25 degree slopes) are MSR
Lightening Ascents. They have spikes/ teeth not just in the front but also
laterally and at the back of the snowshoes. They also have heel lift which
helps your calf muscles. There are more variants in this category and MSR has
traded off some functions for price. I have a pair of entry level snowshoes of
a lesser-known brand that I got for 50 bucks several years ago: they were great
for all the hikes I have done in them except two, and both hikes were Colorado
14ers (a fancy way of calling peaks above 14,000 ft in USA). Even there, I
could go very close to summit on them, but the final stretch was too steep for
them on both hikes (I wasn’t disappointed for not summiting- both were great
hikes). I am now on a lookout for a discounted pair of MSR LAs.
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| Snowshoeing in Rocky Mountain National Park right after a winter storm |
Skis are heavier
than snowshoes. But they are much better at breaking trail, as they need not
have to be lifted off the ground with each step- they can be just slid forward.
This saves lot of energy. Plus, they naturally glide when coming down. So in
general, they are much faster and more energy efficient than snowshoes. Unlike
snowshoes, they do not have built-in crampons. So there are four ways to climb
with them:
1) wax their bottoms
(aka 'base') with such waxes that would enable going forward, but resist them
from going backward. There are a number of waxes that can be applied depending
on the temperature and snow conditions. But if conditions are variable, and you
apply the 'wrong' wax for the condition, the snow could stick on the bases and
ruin the experience. Waxes are considered very fast for moving forward.
2) attach 'skins' or
a piece of cloth/ material to the ski bases with an amazing glue. The skins
behave similar to wax: enable forward movement, resist sliding back. They are
best for climbing really steep slopes (hiking domain) but offer less glide (if you
want to slide forward on them)- they are typically used only for going up, and
are removed when coming down (unless the conditions are dicey).
3) getting skis with
a built-in fish-scales like pattern on the base: this will do the same thing:
resist sliding back while not resisting (to an extent) going forward. Having
these are great for beginners: their drawback: less speed while coming down, is
not really a drawback for beginners who would rather prefer a slower,
controlled speed over uncontrolled acceleration.
4) Ski crampons (aka
Herschians). These are uncommon, and go against the whole ski philosophy as
with them on, the skis have to be lifted with each step. But they are useful
for extreme slopes (mountaineering level).
5) Climbing
techniques: herring-bow and side-stepping, while inefficient by their own,
greatly increase the 'workable range' of any of the above 4 approaches.
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| Nordic backcountry skiing the Shadow Mountain with the backdrop of the Tetons. |
Demerits about skis
when compared to snowshoes are that they are heavier, generally more expensive.
They also require a steeper learning curve: especially so for someone new to
skiing (like yours truly) but also for those resort skiers new to skiing in the
backcountry (they are used to just coming down steep but safe slopes using a
really heavy-duty equipment without having to worry about navigation). In the next article I will describe more about skiing options in the backcountry.
