Whether we are venturing into the wilderness or visiting a local park, we have a responsibility to protect and sustain our natural spaces. For those who have spent significant time in the outdoors, at least some of the Seven Principles of Leave No Trace are probably familiar. In it’s own words, “The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics provides proven, research-based solutions for the protection of the natural world.” These principles and the nonprofit that propounds them deserve a few posts of their own.
Today I am going to highlight a few ways they apply in winter recreation. I won’t go through every one of the Seven Principles, not because they don’t all apply, but because a few of them have special winter considerations.
Principle one: plan ahead and prepare for each outdoor experience. A well-planned, well-equipped visit to the wilderness will leave a minimal impact. This principle ties in with many of the other six. We must do research on the rules and regulations of the area we are visiting, the weather we might encounter, as well as the topography and conditions of our route. Based on what we find, we can prepare by bringing the proper gear to keep ourselves safe and comfortable, thus avoiding the negative environmental impact of utilizing rescue and emergency resources.
Being prepared with the right gear is especially important in the winter because of the colder temperatures and more extreme weather conditions that we might encounter. There are often different requirements for campfires and waste disposal in the winter. Check with the relevant land management agency, be it a National Park, National Forest, or Bureau of Land Management, to find out whether campfires are allowed where you will be recreating. If fires are allowed, educate yourself on how to minimize their impacts (Principle 5).
Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
In winter recreation, the Second Principle protects the surface we are all there to enjoy – the snow! While snow is a protecting blanket in that we cannot damage the surrounding plants or land by travelling or camping on it, we should still carefully consider our impact on the snow conditions. Skiers and snowshoers share many winter trails, but the tracks they make are very different. Snowshoers and other non-skiers should always stay off of cross country ski tracks and uphill skin tracks because they damage the smooth gliding surface with their footsteps. Individuals walking without snowshoes are even more damaging to winter trails. Postholing (sinking deep into the snow with your boot) tears up packed snow trails and makes them more difficult to navigate for others. Boot holes may never truly fill in even when new snow falls.
To Leave No trace on winter trails, minimize the impact your mode of transportation has on those trails and respect others who are travelling in different ways.
What about pitching a tent in the winter? Choose a location well away from water sources and trails (200 feet). Think about whether your tent is visible from where others might be camping or passing through. Campers choose winter backpacking in order to experience solitude in the wilderness, therefore keeping our campsites less visible is one way to respect that.
The third principle pertains to human waste and trash. This is extra important in the winter. When travelling in snowy terrain over frozen ground, how does one dispose of human waste? Cat holes aren’t an option because the ground is too hard to dig a hole. Burying waste under the snow is not adequate, since it will melt out in the winter. Wag bags or any other system that allows one to carry out waste are the solution. These bags can be used discreetly and then packed out for proper disposal. Solid waste aside, keep trails free of yellow snow and walk 200 ft from trails to pee.
Disposing of trash properly in the winter is the same as in any other season. Pack it in, pack it out! Watch out for microtrash, which is especially obvious and disruptive on the snow.
Sarah and I learned something about respecting wildlife in the winter on a snowshoe trip last year. Just because you are outdoors in the winter doesn’t mean bear territory is free from bears! In Yosemite, bear canisters are required in the winter with one exception.
Bear canisters are required all year, but there is a limited exception in the winter. If you’re skiing or snowshoeing above 7,200 feet or above 6,800 feet and within a ½ mile of a marked ski trail, between December 15 and March 30, you’re not required to use a bear canister but are required to hang your food to protect it from wildlife. [source]
Our Sports Basement snowshoe trips to Dewey Point usually fall under this exception. Last year, however, there wasn’t much snow left on the trail in February and rangers informed us that the bears were waking up. To keep our food safe from bears and bears safe from our food, we were required to bring bear canisters.The rest of the Seven Principles are largely the same in winter as they are the rest of the year. We should always leave what we find and be considerate of other visitors.
