Post-holes in your skin track?

Pity the slowboarder. There's no sight so sad as one postholing his descent down a skintrack when the pitch no longer accomodates his limiting backcountry gear.

In dealing with post-holers I have adopted the follwing rules.<br><br>1. If upon scanning their gear it is obvious they just don't know what they are doing( NFL Jacket, Jeans etc) then I assume an attitude of smug superiority and smile and wish them a great day.<br><br>2. If they are dressed in brand new REI gear and are wearing gaiters and have their packs festooned with snow pickets I assume an even greater attitude of superiority and give them a really dirty look as I pass them. The only exception to this is if they have a nalgene bottle swinging wildy from their pack which means that I have to say " dork " as I am passing them coupled with the dirty look.<br><br>3. If they have well worn gear and seem to be experienced then they get the dirty look, no "dork", but a " youre messing the skin track dude". If they give a negative reply, they get a" F***k you" but only if they are smaller tham me and I could beat them in a fight.<br>If bigger, they get a " Whatever".<br><br>I have found these rules help me!<br><br>

I generally like Sky's approach, though have to admit it has been tough to maintain in one particular situation: when I've set a hard-earned switchbacking skin track up a steep slope, and then a horde of snowshoers (typically an outing of members of a local club that seems to have rules about minimum group size that are the exact inverse of the Applachian Mountain Club's limits on size) follows up the track that they've been hypnotized to follow from their travel on the flats below, and they break it down the nice level "bench" of the track and - at great pain to their knees and ankles, I might add - hammer it very flat along the slope angle so it becomes close to useless for the next skin trip up. Here's a case where I'm fairly certain they'd have done better just making their own track beelining directly upwards (as confirmed by some of the more experience slowshoers I've met out there), and instead they've hosed both themselves and us.<br><br>That said, I just repeat to myself "this is an opportunity for growth" and sometimes it actually works.

Back in my snowboarding days, I may have booted up a skin track or two - didn't really know any better, and it sure was easier.<br><br>These days, when I catch a group of postholers (seldom more than 1,000 vf from the car) and they ask me if "those touring skis work pretty well in this deep snow" I smile and say "yeah, really well"!<br><br>Otherwise, I'm pretty much in agreement with Sky - if the holes are compromising traction enough, I move over a few feet and set a new track.

<br>The best thing you can say to a post holer has got to be:<br>"Have a nice hike down..."<br>That's my favorite, especially on a bluebird day with a nice dusting of powder.<br><br>But they get us back in August when the joy-o-meter is tanked and they ask "Are you gonna ski up there?"<br><br>

In Moab they have a saying "don't bust the crust". It's used to communicate to the masses that it isn't cool to travel cross country or off trail due to the fragile nature of the Cryptobiotic Soil Crust.<br><br>Perhaps someone more clever than me can come up with a "don't posthole the skintrack" saying that would get the point across.