Backcountry Snowshoeing and Skiing: The 10 Essentials of Winter

Preparation for hiking is crucial in all seasons, but especially in cold and unpredictable winter. The Backcountry Trail Patrol recommends the “10 Essentials” for any hike: nutrition, hydration, insulation, illumination, navigation, first aid supplies, fire, repair kit, emergency shelter, and sun protection. Here’s how to make this list work for you in winter conditions, along with some tips from the Old Ranger.

Nutrition: Bring plenty of food! Winter hiking burns a lot of calories. Pack extra bars or trail mix in case you’re out longer than expected. Pro tip: Some energy bars may be prone to freezing, so think about bite-size snacks like trail mix. Carrying bars close to your body will help, too.

Hydration: Two liters of water is probably adequate for most day hikes. Pro tip: Insulate with an old sock, and carry the bottle upside down to keep the cap from freezing (the highest water freezes first).

Insulation: In addition to synthetic base layers, warm middle layers, and a waterproof outer layer, be sure to pack spare clothing layers. Pro tip: You haven’t packed enough unless there’s a layer left that you never needed to use!

Illumination: Bring a head lamp (to keep your hands free) with spare batteries, even if you’re only planning a day hike. If you can’t easily change batteries in the dark with cold fingers (try it at home), an extra light will be better than spare batteries. Pro tip: Lithium batteries last much longer than alkaline batteries in the cold.

Navigation aids: Cell phone batteries can die quickly in the cold, so a paper map, compass, and GPS are far more reliable. Pro tip: Practice using them until it’s easy! You can find videos online or participate in a workshop.

First Aid Supplies: Everyone in your group should carry a complete first aid kit in case you get separated. Pro tip: Sign up for a Wilderness First Aid class to gain confidence in backcountry emergencies!

Fire: Waterproof matches, lighter or flint. Don’t assume you can start a fire with ice-coated and snowy wood until you’ve done it a few times. Pro tip: Pack some Vaseline-covered cotton in a prescription bottle for a fire starter. Also, a couple of "Fast-Fire" fire starter blocks (Available at Fleet Farm, Cub, etc.) can save your life!

Repair kit: Multi-tool, or knife and duct tape. Pro tip: Use your hiking pole as the core to make a small roll of duct tape so it’s always handy.

Emergency Shelter: Pack a tarp, tent, or bivy sack, even for day hikes. Pro tip: A large contractor trash bag is an inexpensive option in a pinch.

Sun Protection: Sunglasses and sunscreen are all the more important in cold temps. Winter sun reflecting from snow can cause sunburn and snow blindness, and you’re unlikely to notice an incoming sunburn. 

Join the Fight to Save Our National Forests!

My name is Hans Erdman, and I am a retired park ranger, Patrol Chief Emeritus of the Minnesota and Wisconsin volunteer Backcountry Trail Patrol Association, host of the Old Ranger’s Backcountry podcast and a number of blogs, pages, and other conservation related presence across social media. I am also a proud United States Forest Service volunteer and have been for the past thirty-five years, even while working as a career park ranger for other agencies.

Today, February 1st, is the 120^th anniversary of the establishment of the United States Forest Service under the Department of Agriculture, by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905. I am posting this short message today, not just because of the Forest Service anniversary, but because this year, possibly more than any year since, our national forests, grasslands, and even our national parks are under attack. They are under attack from the same forces that Teddy Roosevelt and it's first Chief, Gifford Pinchot sought to protect our public lands from in 1905.

I am a life-long conservative, by every definition of the word. I am not a Republican nor a Democrat, but I will always vote for the person, regardless of affiliation, who most closely supports the things that I believe in. Do not even dare to accuse me of being anything but conservative. I was supporting Ronald Reagan when most of today’s legislators were still in diapers back in 1968. But I am also a conservationist and have been so even longer, when I decided my goal in life was to become the career that I lived and loved for twenty-six years as a Ranger. And I also believe that our government at both the state and federal level has become too big, too unwieldy, and too intrusive in our daily lives. It has also become too expensive for its own system to support. That much I can agree on with those who were attacking our public lands, however there is a group in Congress that is using the new administration’s push to reduce government spending as justification to gut our land management partners, specifically the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. During the first Trump administration, the same representatives from Utah and other Western states attempted to eliminate the division of law enforcement and investigations within the Forest Service, and even in the past month the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against another Utah-based lawsuit that tried to force the BLM to transfer the lands it manages in the beehive state to state control. These attacks have continued, and they always seem to originate with the Utah and Nevada delegations.

Our public lands in the United States are a unique and incredibly special heritage. No other country in the world has lands that are owned by us, the public, and allows access to those lands like our country does. Our national forests and grasslands comprise of 193 million acres that contribute over thirteen billion dollars to the national economy every year from forest visitors alone. Over 20 percent of our nation’s clean water supply comes from the more than 400,000 lakes and 60,000 miles of rivers and streams on national forest land. Most of those nearly 200 million acres are open to hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, bicycling, ATV riding, horseback riding, and myriads of other recreational opportunities. The Forest Service provides, excuse me, provided 7400 seasonal jobs that contributed to the local economy until last year when Congress drastically cut funding for seasonal employment. This argument of trimming the budget is a thinly veiled disguise. Their real intent is to eliminate both our public lands, and the agencies that manage so that they can be supposedly managed better by the respective, and most frequently western, states. Of course, those states do not have the budget, the manpower, or in many cases the training or desire to do so, and failing that, they would be forced to sell to the highest bidder. That is who these champions of budget reduction actually represent, those “highest bidders.”

Representative Emmer, for twenty-six years I worked as a park ranger in your district. Representative Stauber, I live in your district and have voted for you every time you’ve run for Congress, but if you choose to take sides with those who would steal our public lands and our unique American Heritage of wild and public places from us, I will add my voice to those who oppose you. In 1984 I stood toe to toe with Governor Mario Cuomo when he tried to cut New York State’s Forest Ranger force, which I believe is one of the finest forest protection agencies in the world, in half because his downstate advisors told him they weren’t needed anymore. We won that battle, and, now as then, we’ll win this one.

I leave you with my favorite quote from one of my conservation heroes, the first chief of the United States Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot; “Where conflicting interests must be reconciled, the question shall always be answered from the standpoint of the greatest good of the greatest number in the long run.”

We are the greatest number. Contact your members of Congress, contact your senators. As the song says, “This land is your land, this land is my land, this land was made for you and me.” Without your help, this land won’t be yours or mine or our grandchildren’s in the long run, if we don’t act now.

To paraphrase Smokey Bear, “Only you can protect our forests!”