Winter Backpacking: The Cool Adventure

"Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind."
Thoreau, Walden, 1854

Joe Kaelin and I could hear the deep roar of the trucker's brakes on Interstate 70 as we stepped into our ski bindings, shouldered our packs and plunged into the winter wilderness of the Gore Range. Behind us, immediately adjacent to the four-lane highway, lay Vail, one of the nation's biggest and most popular alpine ski resorts. Ahead of us lay miles of untracked white and the jagged 13,000-foot peaks of the Eagles Nest Wilderness. We saw no people as we started up the trail. There were no other cars in the parking lot, although it was merely a quarter of a mile from the interstate; the lot's miniscule size indicated that very few cars were expected. Half an hour after we began, the old ski tracks we were following vanished and we were on our own, with no sign of human presence. Four days later, as we emerged on the far side of the range, we finally encountered another person – a rancher inspecting his herd.

I've traversed the Gore Range in winter twice since then. Both times, I've seen no one. Not all Colorado ranges are quite that empty. Still, by comparison to summer, winter is the season of silence and peace in the high country so long as you seek out the places where snowmobiles are banned. For example, backcountry use in Rocky Mountain National Park from October 1 to May 1 – two-thirds of the year – is less than 10 percent of the year's total. The lack of people-pressure and the protection provided to the land by the carpet of snow allows rangers to relax the restrictions on where you can camp. In Rocky Mountain National Park, for example, you can pitch a tent anywhere you want if there's four inches of snow on the ground. If you want to get away from people, go to the high mountains when they're blanketed with snow.

Even in the lowlands, below the snow line, winter is usually the off-season. By Thanksgiving, if not sooner, the crowds have thinned considerably from the lemming-like hordes of summer. Snow-phobic backpackers will find that the cold months are a fine time to explore the southern tier of states and the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. Winter can be a wonderful time to hike in the desert Southwest, although I remember one New Year's trip to Utah's Arches National Park when the temperature dipped to zero every night and the daytime highs were only in the 20s. Backpacking below the snow line in winter is only a little different from summer backpacking. A few extra layers of clothing and perhaps a warmer sleeping bag are all that is really needed. To fully savor the season, however, backpackers should venture into the high mountains of New England and the West, where winter truly reigns supreme. Winter backcountry travelers there must be prepared to deal with snow.

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