Hello, welcome back to the channel. Welcome to this incredible winter wonderland here
in Montana. winter has arrived and so I thought this is a perfect opportunity to talk about some
mistakes to avoid when it comes to winter hiking. So that's what we're gonna dive into
in this video. Mistake number one is not dressing properly. So when it comes to really
any hiking summer or winter, I am always thinking about dressing in layers as you can see,
I'm wearing several layers here outside today. And that's really key to you being able to adjust
as you move which is really important. So believe it or not, in the winter, it's actually not that
hard to get hot and sweaty when you are on a hike and so having multiple layers allows you
to take off layers as you get hot and put them back on as you get cold to kind of maintain a
comfortable temperature as opposed to and this is probably more of an extreme example of me
wearing like a T shirt or something and then a big heavy down jacket that really doesn't give
me a lot of area to adjust as I need. I basically have super hot or freezing cold. Now another thing
I want to mention when it comes to your clothing is I am always choosing moisture wicking clothing.
Again that's really important to help you stay dry when you're hiking. You don't want to get super
wet and sweaty and then you stop hiking or you get to your endpoint you want to sit down take
a break. If you are really sweaty, you're going to get cold really really quickly. So dressing in
layers and wearing moisture wicking clothing will really help you stay dry and adjust on your hike
as needed. This is also important in preventing hypothermia, which is really I think, for me one
of the things that I am most concerned about and trying to prepare against when I'm going out on
these winter hikes is hypothermia. So staying dry, and having all of the appropriate clothing
and layers for the activity that I'm doing outside is really important. Mistake number two.
To hold on is to call for that. Mistake number two is letting your the water in your hose freeze.
If you use a reservoir and a hose like I do the water in here can and does freeze actually pretty
quickly depending on the winter conditions. And so a very easy way to handle that is after I take
a sip, I'll just blow air back through the tube. So there's no air in here to or no water in here
to freeze. You can also buy insulating covers or insulated hoses for winter use but if you just
want to use the gear you already have, try blowing air back through the hose to help prevent freezing
on top of that, you know just make sure you're staying hydrated. Of course when you're hiking
in the winter I feel like it's not as I don't know enjoyable or intuitive to be drinking water
but it is still really important that you're mindful of that and that you stay hydrated.
The next mistake is not packing enough high calorie snacks and foods. I know that when I
hike and do things outside in the winter, I tend to eat a lot more like my body seems to be burning
a lot more calories it does take a lot more energy to keep you warm in these cold conditions.
So making sure that you're kind of factoring that in that you might have a bigger appetite
and to eat those good high fat high calorie foods while you're outside. I love to pack you know just
energy bars trail mix. Sometimes I'll even pack my stove and I'll be able to make some hot cocoa
and some warmer foods. We're out hiking in the cold so there's tons of things that you can
bring but just making sure that you probably pack a lot more food than you think you're
going to need or than you would need in the summer months. My next mistake to avoid is not
packing the appropriate survival and emergency supplies and gear. So these are things that I'm
carrying on every hike regardless of what season it is. And these are things like extra clothes,
extra food, extra water illumination fire, sun protection, emergency shelter, first aid,
a knife or a multi tool navigation and signaling. These are all the things that I'm always carrying,
but the ones that I want to kind of highlight here is of course fire. So I am always going to have
ways to start a fire and I'm going to have ways plural, right. So I have a ferro rod and I have
waterproof matches and a lighter if the ferro rod fails for some reason or I lose it. So I'm
thinking about backups for these really important systems that you know if I had to stay out here
longer than I expected something happened on my hike and it is really cold especially when that
sun goes down. I'm going to be really happy that I have the supplies and tools I need to quickly and
easily make a fire so that's one that I want to highlight in this video but they all are really
important. You know illumination, like I mentioned is something like your headlamp. Again if
you had to stay out longer than you expected or you're hiking out in the dark for whatever reason
you want to have a headlamp with extra backup batteries batteries do not do well in the cold.
So I'm going to carry those in my pocket. I'm going to have backup batteries. So just making
sure that you have all of your emergency and survival supplies organized, packed and ready
to go is really important. Mistake number five is not checking the current conditions or being aware
of avalanche terrain that you might be traveling through does your trail access or travel through
potential avalanche terrain so obviously this is a big concern depending on where you are.
You can take avalanche safety classes and checking on those current conditions of where you're going
before your trip is going to be really important in even determining if you want to do that trip.
So a lot of the places that you hike in in the summer could potentially be avalanche terrain in
the winter. And so just because you hike there in the summer doesn't necessarily mean it's somewhere
that you can or should hike in the winter. So again, you're going to have to really do some
research check on the current conditions at any local warnings when it comes to avalanches before
your trip. Mistake number six is simply not turning around soon enough. So what I mean is
obviously in the winter months here, we don't have a whole lot daylight I think right now when I'm
filming this it gets dark at like 430. So you need to factor that in, of course to your planning and
your hiking. But if for some reason the conditions become more than you're comfortable with or just
more intense in your planning, just turn around, right like don't push forward because you're
fixated on getting to your end destination. Just turn around. Along with that even if you're hiking
in an area that you've hiked in over the summer, likely your pace is going to be a lot slower.
And so factoring that into your planning and when you turn around is really important so that you
don't get caught out in the dark again, like I had already mentioned when that sun goes down,
it cools off so quickly. So just make sure that you're aware of the time you're aware of your
pace and you turn around before it gets too late. So there you have it. These are some mistakes to
avoid when it comes to winter hiking. If you got some value out of this, give it a thumbs
up comment below and consider subscribing to my channel for tons more outdoor content. I really
appreciate when you take the time to do that stuff. It really supports my channel so thank you
so much for watching, and I will see you in the next video. So yeah, mistake, so,