winter peaks?

[Adk_dib]

I have never done a winter high peak, have done all of my 22 in the summer.
Even in the summer some peaks take all day, and that is with good footing. How much does winter peaking hold you back? Walking with snow shoes cant be as fast as with boots. Do you pick up speed by sking in and out on the flats? Also, are the trails traveled enough for them to be packed down? I dont want to go plowing through 3 feet of powder.

 

[Dennis C.]

There are advantages and disadvantages to both (3) season and winter conditions hiking. Deep powder can be a problem if breaking trail alone, so it's best to join others in your winter peak pursuits, and wait for consolidated snow conditions to develop before doing any off trail bushwhacking. In summer your feet feel every rock that you step on. Walking with snowshoes is soft and has a cushion like feeling on your legs. Using skis (often combined with snowshoes) to take the slog out of long back country winter excursions is also a great advantage.

 

[Rick]

ADK-Dib,

Whiel it is tough and times are definitely longer, once in a while, On the right day at the right time, (usually later in winter) you can make incredible times heading up and back if the trail is hardpacked, there is no recent snowfall and you aren't being blown around at the top. Those are the days when you say to yourself "I cannot beleive how easy it is to hike in the winter" and are later offset by staggering through 2 foot drifts, blowing ice pellets and cool looking frostfeathers on your hiking poles.

 

[ken]

sometimes the way "up" is quicker in the winter than in the summer on the bushwacks, there are sometimes better routes up, due to being above the blowdown (how about cliff in 3 hours from upper works) - also you can sometimes make better time than in the summer because in the summer you have rocks, roots, etc. to contend with, in the adirondacks there are sometimes so many that have been there before you that the snow is like s "sidewalk" - best bet for finding these conditions is to watch VFTT trail conditions, and watch the weather to see how much it snows between the day you read it and the day that you go - other times you can go there and it is fluffy & deep and takes an hour per mile (or even more on a bushwack) - just make sure to have extra warm clothes with you and drink plenty of gatorade.

 

[Reekee]

Breaking trail on the herd paths can be extremely hard. In the summer it can take 3 hours to do Seward and in the winter you have to add 6miles to the round trip and it took us 7 hours from the Blueberry leanto to reach the summit as we had to break the trail.

 

[Skyclimber]

In some ways Winter Climbing is much easier and I have found several trips so much faster on the way down then the way in. Butt Sliding is alot of fun and make up much of the time lost on way back, (sorry Pin Pin) and learning to manuever the snowshoes for glissading on the way down is part of the battle. Have sometimes made Cliff in 7 hours round trip, Dix 8 hours round trip, etc. Alot quicker than in summer. But then you do get the hard times like 10 hours to reach the summit of Allen breaking 2-3 feet of snow, coming out to the car 17 hours after leaving it. Midnight starts for climbing the Sewards, but from Stoney Creek Bridge instead of the trailhead adding
6-7 miles to the already 16-18 one. Making it about 23 miles in a day and
16 tortuous hours to conquer just Donaldson and Emmons, through 2-3 feet of snow !! The so-called, "trailless," peaks, are really trailless in Winter.

 

[John S]

How about a little empirical evidence! In the three years I’ve been hiking, I averaged 1 ¾ mph on three-season dayhikes, 1 ½ mph combined three-season dayhikes and backpacks and 1 1/3 mph on winter dayhikes. There have been plenty of exceptions in both directions but by and large, the more I carry and the tougher the footing, the slower I go.

 

[bruno]

i agree with skyclimber as i feel faster in winter conditions as the way is smoother. rocky trails slow me down more than snowshoe or crampon-clad boots on snow and ice. really! and the vaunted "sitting glissade" is a real timesaver in addition to being great fun. i've even been know to reascend solely to buttslide back down again. winter conditions are almost always faster (if that's what you're lookin' for).

and in winter especially i agree with ospreyboya and terry (i know you're out there terry!)

 

[bigmoose]

John S --
"In the three years (you've) been hiking"??
Ya coulda fooled me.

 

[Pete_Hickey]

The amin thing about winter, is the variability. While in summer, bad weather will probably increase your time by 50% at most (baring floods), in winter, it is not uncommon to have wether increase your time by 300%

Yeah, sometimes it can be faster in winter. For example, on a rocky trail,
the smoothing of the snow cover may let you keep a steady pace, while the rocks in teh summer have you walking in broken steps. It has also been mentioned about the snow cover making bushwhacks easier.

Another thing in winter is that there can be a much more dramatic difference between time time to climb vs the time to descend.