WATCH THIS Before You Hike in the Mountains in the Winter – HikingGuy.com
WATCH THIS Before You Hike in the Mountains in the Winter – HikingGuy.com
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Given the recent tragedies in the Southern California mountains, several media outlets have contacted me to comment. Their focus was on gear to prevent problems. Unfortunately, that’s not the answer. In this video, I’ll give you some important safety considerations for the next time you do a winter hike in the mountains. If you’re going to hike in the mountains in the winter, please watch this video first.
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If your safety was 100% guaranteed every time you went winter hiking in the mountains it wouldn’t be as fun. Some of my most amazing experiences on trail have been in winter. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience but I can’t imagine not hiking in the winter. 🍻🍻
we just got 6 feet in the san bernardino mountains. i wish i had snow shoes for this storm lol. i practically swam through half a mile to get to a plowed road
Well not all mountains are dangerous to climb in winter. One has to be aware of the weather conditions and his own limitations. I have to say, I’ve never considered not going because it’s winter and/or snowy. But mountaineering is very developed here in Europe. We have many mountaineering clubs, expert guided tours, established and maintained paths with markings on trees so you can see them even if there’s snow, we climb tall and low mountains, etc. Perhaps it is the same in the US, but your warning seems to indicate otherwise.
there is so much accidents in summer mountain climbing. summer mounaineering is also dangerous. also motorbiking is much more risky, driving is risky, skiing, kayaking, cycling….
I live in Oregon and have been wanting to try and hike in the winter, but not mountaineering.
This year, I am planning to go on my first one, which will be about 300′ from the SnoPark anmd I plan to stay close to roads and finished trails.
I also keep a GPS device on me.
What I hope to do is try it on on a short distance, and then expand out as I get more confident in my ability.
Great video
reminds of this dude who fell of mt fuji and winter and died its not just americans being dumb
Great message! My mother always said I should go out hiking in winter because it is so much prettier with the snow. I kept telling her about the increase in risk but she wouldn’t have it.
Thanks for posting this. I live near Baldy, have hiked that area many time. I stopped any ice/snow hiking years ago (71 now), things change, "know yourseif".
Two points: the "Baldy Bowl" area, due to some peculiarities of geography and elevation is a particularly dangerous place in winter, all the way up to the ridge, which SAR and Forest service try to point out.
And: in steep areas, in any snow/ice conditions, microspikes are not nearly equivalent to crampons, and the knowledge/ training to use those properly and safely.
Especially Baldy Bowl and Devil’s Backbone.
I came across your video… I agree with many points. I believe the biggest cause for these accidents in such low hanging mountaineering fruit is poor experience. I’m sorry but Whitney, via the mountaineers route, Whitney trail, is NOT difficult. It’s laughably easy, even in the winter. The bar for experience is far too low for many people. Going up Rainier via Emmons is NOT difficult; Liberty Ridge – yes. Mountaineering, particularly in SoCal is plagued by a false sense of confidence which leads to higher risk tolerance that should not exist. The same can be sad for many Himalayan 8 thousand meter peaks. Going up Everest does not impress me or many Alpinists and mountaineers today. It involves guides, porters, you essentially pay to be carried up the mountain. Which again, leads to a false sense of experience and confidence.
GREAT SHORT VID…… YOU NAILED IT !!!
Nothing more really to say about it.
I love to hike long distances, especially in Iceland and even in Wintertime up in the desert Highlands, cause in summertime in the last 10 years it became very often packed with other travelers, and I love to enjoy the desert backcountry on my own. And I`m doing this kind of shit since a few decades.
I also hiked the very famous Mountain & Backcountry trail LAUGAVEGUR & FIMMFJÖRDUHALS ( it is in the Top Ten most beautiful Trails on the Planet ) in Summer several times, but also under seriouse Winter conditions solo. The Time i needed to finish it in Winter quadrupled compaired to a summer hike.
A totally different game, when packed under deep snow and in Whiteout conditions. Sometimes just 20m of a tricky slope could make the whole trail impossible to finish, without seriouse mountaineering equipment and experiance how to handle the situation. Something you wouldn`t have to think about for a secound, when doing the same trail in summer.
My Advice for every one:…..it is not only important to know, what you could handle, but even more so, what you coudn`t anymore and beeing smart enough to decide, what is what. Sometimes it makes you a real badass Backcountry Hiker, when you just stop and turn arround in safty, instead of risking it all for your false ego.
Ok, one thing I must disagree with is the question of "risking the lives of the people that may have to search for you…" no one is forcing anyone to head out and rescue anyone else, those are personal risks. If a person chooses to risk their own life trying to save another that is their choice. Another thing I take issue with is the impression you give that summer hiking does not carry its own risks, both serious injury and life taking. How about doing a balanced vid explaining the risks in all seasons. I have hiked on mountains and deserts in both summer and winter and each have their own risks. thnx.
Yep, winter hiking puts the summer hiking safety risk’s on steroids. – N Idaho –
Thank you so much for this video! Such an important potentially life-saving topic. I have been a search and rescue volunteer for 22 years. I was the Commander of the team that you referred to that lost a team member in 2019. We have re-dedicated ourselves to education and prevention of incidents. As winter approaches, we would like to share this video on our social media channels. Would you be ok with that? Hopefully, joining our efforts, we can have a safe winter season for everyone. Thanks again
I am 40 years old and I have gone for skiing trips for years and years before I even tried skiing in the mountains. The weather is so much more challenging there and all the safety precautions you have to do makes it so much more difficult and unpredictable. My father did ski in these mountains before me and his father before him, so I am still going to do it, but not without the proper respect for the dangers of it, and I still dont go up on the peaks in winter … why risk it?
We Norwegians have a list of rules that you guys can search for online called "fjellvettreglene".
1. You need to know your limits.
2. You need to have the right judgement to quit a hike if the conditions become to difficult or if the hike becomes too dangerous or if you don’t have the strength to continue.
3. You need to be prepared with the right equipment for the hike you are going on.
4. The more dangerous a hike is, the more familiar you should be with the trail. The worst case scenario would be if you get lost due to not knowing the route well.
Rarely leave the house if it drops below 50°😉 but this was a great informative video.
I think it is worth taking the risk, but then again, I don’t get why so many people are so stupid in the things they do when they run into trouble.
Thanks the fire road suggestion is a good one.
Good solid advice. Actually not sure why the trails are even open in the winter. The mountain trails on Mt. Baldy should be closed during the winter months. Yes, winter hiking in the desert is a great idea although not when there’s a storm because flash flooding does occur out there too.
The problem with winter “Hiking” is this: once there is snow on the ground, especially in avalanche terrain, it’s mountaineering, full stop.
It must be treated with that level of seriousness.
Almost died twice. Stopped.
This video comes at the right time 🙂 A couple of friends (some pretty experienced) and I were planning to climb Hoher Dachstein this month (Feb 2023) but a couple of weeks ago there was a huge avalanche which covered the tracks and via ferrata cables with snow. We then decided to do some easier hikes instead and went to Haidsteig and ÖTK. Coming back from Haidsteig was probably my first ever deep snow hike, apart from the couple of times I was walking in deep snow in ski boots. We didn’t have any snowshoes and it was very challenging and tiring. I’m glad I didn’t take on Hoher Dachstein as my first winter hike. So this video just hits home and I really have to do some more research and take it slow and steady instead of plunging into a winter Matterhorn hike for example 🙂
My family has lived in Baldy over the last sixty plus years and every year winter and summer more and more people are loosing their lives. Last weekend another young man jumped into the creek and lost his life, that’s two in the last couple months. Never ever jump into water that you are not familiar with, you can be in-paled by a sharp branch or even rebar. Please be safe❤
Thank you for be the lead and mind for the inexperienced hikers that turned around because Safety is First 🧡
I remember after a concert in the Lake Tahoe area. One attendee was this young woman who decided to walk the one-mile distance to her hotel room. She never made it back. They found her body months later.
I don’t see the point of going for a day hike in winter knowing that you are not going to survive the night if something goes wrong.
1:50 What I find so crazy is when people rely on snow or ice not breaking apart while climbing some ridge—or even when they are climbing a frozen waterfall. I could never trust anything other than rock for climbing.
Thank you for that Video! I knew a lot of experienced guys, that died in the winter due to avalanches, cracking ice and so on. Most of them were professionals like Ueli Steck, with whom I talked about how his family deals with that dangers just a few weeks before he died. I cancelled my ambitions to climb mountains in winter when I got married. But working in that business in that time I lost a lot of friends.
I still love snow and beeing at the mountains. But I choose very very carefully, where I step with my feeds. I avoid nealy every slope and almost feel paranoid doing so… but I’m alive and I can still spend time with my family.
Hi, i am very surprised about your advices : i was expecting about safety gears that could help «in case» of trouble in the cold, i was expecting expertise in winter conditions…i was expecting that you talk about experience, knowledge & skills ! Nothing…you just said : Avoid the Mountain in the winter…👏at least you could have talk about acceptation to give up the hike when we don’t feel it anymore ! According to me it’s the safest advice to give to an hiker .
17 year Search and Rescue Winter response member in the mountains of Britain Columbia. Winter conditions elevate your risks 10 fold! Avalanche, cornice falls, tree wells, hypothermia, frost burn, whiteout conditions, hidden hazards and the list goes on and on.
If you go, build up real in field experience, it’ll take years!
I’ve hiked baldy 7 times now in the winter 3 of those times I didn’t make the summit and turned back. As somebody who does it, almost every year I’m gonna make my second attempt this year this month. Do what you want but it’s really dangerous understand that.
When I see things like this, I often wonder how safe I’m being on my solo hikes around home. We have a couple of miles of trails in my backyard, and the trailhead is 100 yards away. But there are some sections where I wonder if I’m being safe enough. That’s probably answer enough there. It might sound crazy, but even in the middle of the city, a safety whistle and reflective vest would work wonders in case I break a leg.
You just convinced me to never hike in the winter.
I want to share this with everyone…if you are going to do winter activities in locations with lots of snow, you need to have avalanche training and the tools for legit winter mountaineering. The National Ski Patrol offers an avalanche safety class each year in the socal chapter. You also need legitimate crampons (not those little spikes)…at least a 10 points (12 is better) steel crampons, ice axe, know how to belay, rope and harness, the knowledge to use them and know how to self arrest, avy terrain evaluation.
Let’s make sure we don’t end up being another statistic
We all die the end. Either they where foolish from git go or they died enjoying a hike till the end. Better than a hospital
The guy that was ice hiking on the precipice that was slipping and trying to dig his icepick in to stop him looked like Devils Backbone in Mt. Baldy, California. And that’s how quickly it can turn a beautiful day into your last.
Sad to see Mt. Baldy took another life.
Remember hiking with my wife in late August and the conditions were high winds with ice on Mount Madison. We were about 20 minutes from the summit above tree line. My wife huddle behind a boulder. She was scared. We turned around. It was the only choice.
I have similarly conservative views on backcountry skiing and avalanche hazards. I think over a lifetime of backcountry skiing, it’s just a matter of time until you get clobbered, somehow, in some odd condition, or some slightly ill-considered step… and you are just kidding yourself to think you are being 100% smart all of the time. There are so many ways to make bad decisions, even if forced by unexpected changing conditions, let alone by being rash. Avalanche reports are full of people saying "we were doing everything right, we thought we were being safe, we had years of experience" but there are so many factors totally out of your control, including other people, who might not be doing it "safely"! And bottom line, are the moments of adrenaline truly worth the risk to your life, or the life of the people touring with you? I say not a chance.
Mt Ballzy is dangerous…
I am fairly certain I nearly walked off the edge of a cliff in the snow, and I will have to go back one summer to see what I missed. We realised our situation, and turned around. There is a lot to be said for sticking to easier terrain in the winter.
With the greatest respect, i appreciate the links to training and so on but surely advising people to stay off the mountains isnt really the point, experience comes from doing, the people tasked with rescue at one point would have set foot on a mountain with no prior experience, my advice would be to plan and to be realistic in your capabilities, start small and build experience but definitely get out there and enjoy the beauty of winter hiking, everything has risks but without taking them your not living, being prepared and understanding the risks is a much better approach… in my views any way… all the best
Fleeing The Complex: The Kingdom of the Knight (2012) Mountain Winter Scene (Moviecillps)
I love your common sense. So many folks seem to be lacking, or think they are invincible. Have climbed many high mountains, but always with guides. It’s worth the money. Now you have to have the jab before you can sign up, but in days gone by that was not necessary thank goodness. Be safe and thanks for the good advice🏜️
This was a good sobering video. I’ve done plenty of summer hikes, been thinking about winter hikes. But don’t think I am ready for it yet
A well known mountaineer (Ed Viesturs ) has a philosophy about climbing. The goal is not to get to the top but to get back home.
I hiked Baldy in June of 2022 on a clear sunny day and made it to the summit via the Baldy Bowl. It was around 72F at the trailhead at 7am. I hit the summit at around 11am, temps were around 45-50F with 15-25mph winds, the conditions were ideal for sure. I made it back down to the trailhead at around 3pm. It was the hardest hike I’ve ever done, can’t imagine trying to hit the summit in snowy/Icy conditions. Since the Julian Sands event, I’ve watched a number of other videos about winter trecks up to the summit and from what I’ve seen it literally looks like a different mountain/hike altogether. One thing too that I found interesting about the mindset I think of hikers nowadays was I remembering saying to 2 younger guys at the summit…"have a safe trip" and they said nothing and just looked at me like I was a total idiot(the look was one of "its not like we’re hiking a fourteener or Everest you moron", I’ll never forget that. It’s so easy to underestimate any hiking excursion, always show up prepared everyone!!
DO THEY EVER LEARN? NO!!! THEY NEVER DO. 🙄
This reminds me of what happened to Julian Sands 💔😥
Hiking in the wintertime is by FAR my favorite time to get out in the wilderness and mountains!! thats because I dont have to deal with all the other people out there and the pesky rangers and permits. its brilliant to just be able to "just go" and not have to worry about permits and all that nonsense.