traction for snow travel
Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2019 12:53 pm
Hi,
The only hiking I've done on snow is a couple inches when it has snowed during a backpacking trip. I'll be backpacking in Yosemite for 3 or 4 nights the second half of May. I don't completely understand when to use microspikes / crampons / snowshoes. This is what I have gathered from looking stuff up on-the-line.
In general:
1. Snowshoes are for floating on soft snow (although some or most have traction also) and areas that don't have significant tracks through them.
2. Crampons are for high angle snow and ice and climbing.
3. Microspikes are for low angle ice and packed snow.
Since I'll be on trails I fully expect to have been trodden many times by then (Yosemite Falls to Snow Creek or LYV to Merced Lake), I'm thinking microspikes. I know from reading on here to travel early in the day when the snow is still hard. The question I have is about snow depth. Should I do anything differently if the snow depth is 10 feet vs 2 feet? I don't know much about how snow consolidates. Is there a general rule of thumb?
Thanks,
Sean
The only hiking I've done on snow is a couple inches when it has snowed during a backpacking trip. I'll be backpacking in Yosemite for 3 or 4 nights the second half of May. I don't completely understand when to use microspikes / crampons / snowshoes. This is what I have gathered from looking stuff up on-the-line.
In general:
1. Snowshoes are for floating on soft snow (although some or most have traction also) and areas that don't have significant tracks through them.
2. Crampons are for high angle snow and ice and climbing.
3. Microspikes are for low angle ice and packed snow.
Since I'll be on trails I fully expect to have been trodden many times by then (Yosemite Falls to Snow Creek or LYV to Merced Lake), I'm thinking microspikes. I know from reading on here to travel early in the day when the snow is still hard. The question I have is about snow depth. Should I do anything differently if the snow depth is 10 feet vs 2 feet? I don't know much about how snow consolidates. Is there a general rule of thumb?
Thanks,
Sean