Snowshoe Tour Colorado - Tips to Staying Warm, Dry and Hydrated


by Todd Rankin - Date: 2006-12-10 - Word Count: 531 Share This!

I just returned from an evening snowshoe tour in Frisco, Colorado. It is almost 9 p.m. and the thermometer reads -12 Degrees F. Aside from the cold, it was a blissful night with the moon lighting up the surrounding Summit County mountain peaks. The following tips will ensure that you too stay warm, dry and hydrated while snowshoeing in the frigid cold in Colorado.

Layering is the best technique to staying warm in the outdoors. One of the biggest challenges you face while getting exercise in the winter is regulating your temperature. Too little clothing and you risk hypothermia. Too much clothing and you overheat and start to sweat profusely. This moisture facilitates heat loss. If you remain in the cold after stopping exercising and you are wet from sweating you guessed it, you risk hypothermia. Multiple Layers of moisture wicking clothing ensures you can easily regulate your temperature. If you are too cold, just add a light layer. If you are too hot, stop, remove a layer and continue snowshoeing. Typically, I wear just enough to keep warm, but not sweat. In my pack I keep an extra layer to put on when we stop to make sure I don't get cold. It make take a few minutes extra during your touring to stop and add or remove layers, but it is well worth the warmth and dryness. On my legs I wear a thin layer like the Icebreaker Skin 200. Above that I always wear Sporthill's 3SP XC Pants. Up top, Icebreaker Skin 200 is great against the skin. For my next later I often choose to wear a light top like the North Face Cirque. If it is really cold, I will then wear a light fleece, followed by a shell to keep the wind out. Try a bunch of options and find out what works for you.

Keeping your feet dry is also extremely important. A great piece of equipment to make sure that your feet stay warm and dry is a pair of gaiters. Gaiters provide a barrier between your pants and your shoe. They prevent moisture, in the form of snow, from getting into your boots at the bottom of your pant cuff.

Warm and dry hands are paramount to a great snowshoe tour. I choose to wear skin tight and thin liner gloves. I will wear mittens on tops of these gloves. If I need the dexterity for my fingers I call easily remove the mittens, but my hands will still stay warm for a few minutes thanks to the liners.

One last piece of equipment that makes my snowshoeing much more enjoyable is a pair of goggles. When it is snowing or really windy nothing beats the eye protection goggles will give you. Keep a pair in your pack just in case.

My final tip applies to staying hydrated. Make sure you are drinking plenty of fluids. If you stop to add a layer or remove a layer it is a good practice to take a sip of water. To make sure you water doesn't freeze. I always have a wide-mouthed Nalgene with me. On really cold days you can keep it in an insulated water bottle holder.


Related Tags: travel, tour, copper, colorado, ski, snowshoe, bramayama, summit, breckenridge, keystone, nordic

Todd Rankin is a co-founder and guide for Bramayama Travel, LLC in Frisco, CO. He and his wife run a successful bike and snowshoe company. They offer half-day and full moon Colorado snowshoe tours at the Frisco Nordic Center with daily departures from Copper Mountain and Frisco. Find out more about his green-powered company at http://www.bramayama.com (it means "to yearn for the mountains.")

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