How to Prevent Slipping When Hiking in the Snow

Q: What should I wear to maintain traction in the snow?
— Jack, Zelienople, Pennsylvania

A: When you hike across a snowfield in boots, you risk slipping and falling, especially if the snow melted and refroze. To be prepared, attach a pair of traction devices, such as crampons, to your footwear. The metal spikes dig into the snow and ice and allow you to walk more easily and safely. If you’re hiking in steeper terrain, you’ll want big spikes. For a winter hike, smaller spikes will work just fine. As an alternative to crampons, Kahtoola offers EXOspikes ($73.95 a pair, kahtoola.com) and MICROspikes ($83.95 a pair, kahtoola.com), each sporting a dozen spikes on a harness that you can stretch over your boots or shoes. Trekking up a slope, I preferred the MICROspikes because the nearly half-inch stainless steel spikes gripped the ice well enough that I didn’t slide at all. But for walking over ice and snow on flat terrain, the smaller tungsten carbide spikes on the EXOspikes still provided plenty of traction.

If you’re hiking on fresh, powdery snow, you’ll want to wear snowshoes instead. This footwear spreads your weight across the snow so you don’t sink. You can make your own (see go.scoutlife.org/pvcsnowshoes or go.scoutlife.org/woodensnowshoes) or buy a pair. Cascade Mountain Tech makes Pinnacle Snow Spin Snowshoes ($199.99, cascademountaintech.com), which have a sawtooth frame and built-in crampons on the front and back to give you more stability than a typical snowshoe.