Snow Skills

Trekking poles are essential for winter trekking and powder baskets for those poles are, too!

“I’ve only made this mistake once and I’ll never do it again!” I’m referring to heading out for that first snowshoe trek of the winter season, grabbing the backpack, the snowshoes, and the trekking poles on the way out the door. Upon arrival at the trailhead, I noticed that the trekking poles had the small baskets that had served me so well through the summer. Well, they’ll be fine in snow, right? “I’ve only made this mistake once and I’ll never do it again!”

Summer baskets are small, light, and less likely to get caught up on vegetation. Fast forward to winter conditions, and these small disks of plastic will not bear your weight in the snow. A summer basket will let the pole drop deep into the snow pack, causing loss of balance, a slower pace, and lots of fatigue. In contrast, replacing the summer basket with larger powder baskets will allow you to set your balance surely on the snow’s surface, without wasted effort. Every major pole manufacturer has powder baskets available for their products; an example is the Leki Tour Trekking Poles and associated Leki Power Baskets.