{"id":22820,"date":"2017-12-08T08:55:45","date_gmt":"2017-12-08T16:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=22820"},"modified":"2022-02-03T15:46:08","modified_gmt":"2022-02-03T23:46:08","slug":"semi-rad-the-joy-of-postholing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/semi-rad-the-joy-of-postholing","title":{"rendered":"Semi-Rad: The Joy of Postholing"},"content":{"rendered":"

You know it might be coming. It\u2019s literally the last thing you want to experience, because once it happens once, it can and will happen again\u2014as many times in a row as it wants. So, you step gingerly, always on your guard, anxiously anticipating the crunch and pop. Maybe you even try some Jedi mind tricks as you traverse.<\/p>\n

But inevitably, your luck runs out: Your boot punches through the top layer of snow and you plow through at a harsh speed, your heart sinking simultaneously. You have postholed.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re lucky, you\u2019ve only sunk in up to your ankle. If you\u2019re not lucky, you\u2019re stuck in snow up to your waist. In rare and extremely lucky cases, it\u2019s a one-time occurrence. Usually, you\u2019re not lucky and you will continue to posthole for several feet (or even miles).<\/p>\n

\"Hiker

Photo Credit: Brendan Leonard<\/p><\/div>\n

The solution is simple: Just wear snowshoes or skis, right? Well, sure, if it\u2019s in the middle of winter. But sometimes, your hike or climbing objective only has the potential for a few hundred feet of snow-covered trail, so why drag a pair of snowshoes for miles just to put them on for five minutes?<\/p>\n

So, you accept the risk of postholing. My pal Lee used to have a joke: Instead of \u201cPostholing builds character,\u201d which is something you would tell yourself in an attempt to think positively about it, he\u2019d say \u201cPostholing builds anger.\u201d Of course, it\u2019s all in how you look at it.<\/p>\n

First of all, it\u2019s great exercise. It\u2019s like getting a weird sort of CrossFit workout in the middle of your hike\u2014punch through, sink in, high-step, repeat. Sometimes, you plunge into the snow so far that you have to sort of gently belly flop onto the snow above your hole and army crawl the rest of the way to prevent more postholing. Second of all, well \u2026 OK, it kind of sucks. In the best scenario, it reminds you of how much you enjoy floatation devices like snowshoes and skis, or, how much you enjoy summer hiking. In the worst scenario, it may make your objective for the day pretty much impossible.<\/p>\n

As always, an ounce of prevention (floatation) is worth a pound of cure (anything you can do once you\u2019re caught postholing), but here are a few things to make it \u201cbetter.\u201d<\/p>\n