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Winter backpacking carries risks, rewards
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Winter backpacking carries its own set of risks, and some very real rewards, especially if you enjoy the solitude of back country woods and mountains. Major risks involved are mostly weather related. The rewards are the joy and excitement of seeing only your footprints in a new field of snow, or reaching that ridge or summit where you can almost touch the clouds above and look down on white, fluffy snow below. All those good things you can only experience with a successful winter backpacking adventure.
But winter weather, even terrain changes brought about by the weather and the cold of winter, are definite risks for which you must be prepared. Start off with the obvious -- a great backpack to carry all the gear you'll need to make your trip a success.
As with any backpacking adventure, winter trips demand quality but lightweight tents, clothing, food and water supplies, and other gear. Especially if you're going into the snow fields and wilds of a true "winter wonderland," you'll need a good pair of snowshoes -- and as cumbersome as warm weather hiking can be if you pack too much heavy gear, you can only imagine the problems if you're coping with deep snow on snowshoes and you've overdone the weight of your gear!
One of our finest online merchant partners, Backcountry.com, has a wealth of winter backpacking gear and clothing, a wealth of great stuff to fit all ages and levels of backpackers. A unique, potentially very useful tool for winter backpackers is their Brunton Atmospheric Data Center, an all-in-one pocket-sized electronic unit that offers a wealth of current weather information, including wind speed and barometric pressure. It even has a storm alert alarm you can set to go off if the barometric pressure reaches a certain point -- as well as a built-in altimeter you can set to beep when you've reached a certain altitude!
Be prepared with the right gear and winter time gadgets. Enjoy yourself, carefully and wisely, with a well-planned winter backpacking trip. You might enjoy it so much you'll give up on warm weather adventures altogether!
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