There's lots of good advice for skiers.
Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn.
[If you] French fry when you pizza, you're going to have a bad time.
But nobody has catchy advice for snowshoers. Lame. Of course, what are you going to say?
It's just like walking.
You can go anywhere.
You don't sink in the snow as much.
Where you're going, you don't need trails.
Actually, that last one isn't that bad, but I digress. Without memorable advice, how will you remember how to snowshoe? To wit:
- Pick a place you want to go.
- Look at the avalanche forecast (and know what it means).
- Look for the closest "trailhead" where you can leave the car.
- Walk the safest, shortest, most direct, easiest line between you and the destination.
Hmmm... If the reason for catchy advice is to help people remember how to snowshoe, maybe we don't need it. After all, that's pretty darn easy. And that's what we did on this adventure.
"Hey. Let's go there."
"How?"
"We can park here, follow this trail to here, and then just break trail the rest of the way."
"OK."
No problems. We found the lake we were looking for using trails, some cross country ski roads, and a bunch of unbroken snow. Even though we had left the car just off an interstate freeway and had traveled through a popular ski resort, we were completely and utterly alone.
Ooh, ooh. Maybe that's the memorable quote about snowshoeing:
Go snowshoeing when you want to be all by yourself.
Well, maybe not. That makes it sound like we're all anti-social. It's not untrue, but we don't want to admit it.
If you have quotable advice, let me know.
