With deep snow, it’s time for skis and snowshoes
By Mike Lynch
After Friday’s storm, the snowpack now exceeds a foot in many places in the Adirondacks.
That means it’s time for wearing skis or snowshoes when recreating on snow-packed trails in the backcountry, according to outdoor and tourism professionals.
“It’s a matter of etiquette, but it’s also a matter of safety and responsible backcountry travel,” said Josh Wilson, executive director of Barkeater Trail Alliance (BETA), which maintains and builds bike and ski trails.
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Wilson noted that people who are postholing are putting themselves in a potentially dangerous situation.
“It’s not an efficient way to travel in the wintertime,” Wilson said. “It can get people into a bad situation if they’re stuck postholing in really deep snow. (They can) get exhausted very quickly, so it is also a safety issue for the people doing it.”
He said people should also make sure they are wearing the snowshoes or skis in the snow and not carrying that gear.
To get the message out to the public, BETA posts signs with this message at Jackrabbit Trail access points.
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But the group isn’t alone in getting the message out.
In a recent post on its Saranac Lake ADK Facebook page, Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism wrote that “When snow accumulation is above 8 inches, it is important to hit the trails on snowshoes or skis. Don’t posthole! It’s not safe and it ruins the trails for others.”
A video that accompanies the post shows a woman in boots struggling through the snow and eventually falling.
While outdoor professionals generally discourage postholing in general, it’s actually not allowed in the High Peaks Wilderness when there’s eight inches or more of snowpack.
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The penalty for not wearing skis or snowshoes in those conditions is a ticket with a fine of up to $250. The final cost is determined by a local judge. That regulation has been in effect for more than 20 years.
“The most important reason for the requirement is for hiker safety,” said DEC Forest Ranger Captain Kevin Burns. “Snowshoes are a tool to assist the hiker for safety measures. Additionally, if a hiker is not wearing snowshoes or skis it creates postholing for those that are wearing skis which could cause injury to those wearing the proper equipment and those skiers.”
He emphasized that people hiking with boots in deep snow are exerting a lot of energy. In the High Peaks, where the snowpack is deeper in the higher elevations, postholing can lead a hiker to become exhausted, dehydrated, or hyperthermic.
Over the weekend, a person posted on the Adirondack Backcountry Hiker page that forest rangers were out ticketing people for not wearing snowshoes at Cascade Mountain.
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Burns said a forest ranger ticketed one hiker at Cascade during routine patrol and that other rangers were out interacting with the public at the standard places, such as Marcy Dam and Adirondak Loj trailhead.
“DEC strives to educate for preparedness through preventative search and rescue and education as much as possible before hikers go in the backcountry,” he said.
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Sorry, a well placed boot pack is a tradition I will never totally let go of. I hear equipment snob when I read this. Snow is an inherently dynamic and impermanent surface, and it lies on land meant to be enjoyed by all, not just a/t and rendonnez skiers (and splitboards are ABSURDLY ineffective). Make a new skintrack if yours gets messed up, it’s not hard to break trail with modern skis. I put headphones on and hike where I please if I don’t care to use skins on a given tour. Put your skintrack where you want, up your a** if you want to tell me I can’t hike. I don’t even snowboard, but asking ppl to splitboard or carry heavy, crappy snowshoes and struggle on every minor decent, is intrusive if it doesn’t suit their tour or touring style or it isn’t in their equipment quiver. The forest is big enough for us all!
Thanks for your input! Your arrogance illustrates the problem very well.
Actually your response and this very article illustrate the arrogance of your position very well. Thanks.
Another bad thing about post-holing not often mentioned is that your foot could find a hidden stream or puddle that could soak your foot. A pair of wet feet can be deadly in winter.
ALSO, in my experience – especially in the HPW where trails may only be 4-6 feet wide in winter, previous damage from one post-holer may not ruin a trail – especially if you are smart enough to use snowshoes or backcountry skis. but a half-dozen post-holers can make the trail more unusable for other post-holers if they can’t find a place to place their feet! Swiss cheese is not a good hiking surface. Snowshoes can usually still be used, but skis may be problematic.
These are trails we ALL share. Why not do the safe and courteous thing and follow common-sense regulations? It isn’t likely you will talk your way out of a ticket if stopped halfway up Colden.
Well said Boreas & Dana! I’ve had the pleasure of snowshoeing & backcountry skiing in the Adirondacks for 35 years! Post holes on ski trails are inconsiderate & unsafe & simply makes no sense!
I just find it a sad statement about where we are and who we have become. We need the government to tell us when to wear snowshoes or skis. I don’t, and I own a dozen pairs of skis and snowshoes and use them as I see fit. I recall the time a few years ago when a rather annoying and insistent fellow outdoors person that I happened upon, not on a trail BTW, was shouting at me that I was breaking the law for not wearing snowshoes or ski in snow of about 3 to 6 inches. Yup. Sad state of affairs. Maybe some people should just stay inside.
Snow shoes for twelve inches of snow.lol As a local who has hiked and snowboarded down over a dozen mountains I find the “rule” ridiculous. A small group of entitled people are responsible. They don’t want anyone else in the trails. Some of them actually believe the trails are theirs. I’ve been hit with ski poles and verbally abused by these elite people.
We’ve been yelled and cursed at with our children in tow for hiking without snowshoes on a heavily traveled short trail, on a wide snow pack that was hard as cement. Not one of our footprints left a dent, inconvenienced or endangered anyone.
Adding to my own comment to clarify this was not in a place where snowshoes were required and there were no signs regarding snowshoes. Just an entitled jerk screaming at us about “etiquette” on a day and in a place when snowshoes were not remotely necessary. He scrawled, “Wear snowshoes, ***holes” all over a page of the check in book. If this is Adirondack hiking etiquette, the world needs less of it.