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<h3><strong>Winter mobility</strong></h3>
This article is intended to be a primer for men that are interested in all aspects of winter mobility.  I am not claiming to be the authority for any of these skills, rather I have been fascinated by all aspects of  living, traveling, and working in in the snow for as long as I can remember.

Another thing to keep in mind is that I am on a budget and do not upgrade all equipment every season (or every ten seasons sometimes).  Here are the different areas that we are going to dive into:
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 	<li>Human powered – Post holing, snow showing, crosscountry ski, telemark ski, AT ski</li>
 	<li>Gas powered – Snowmobile, tracked ATV and SxS, Timbersled</li>
</ul>
<h3>Human powered mobility</h3>
This is an area where I have have made some good advances this year.  We will start with the least efficient method.  Post holing.  Post holing requires only the footwear that you already have on and the ability to walk.  The upside is that it requires no training and no special equipment.  The downside is that it is not very efficient and it is very slow.

Next on the efficiency scale is going to be snowshoeing. Snowshoes are fairly inexpensive ($100-$300 range) and they will significantly decrease the amount that you sink into the snow.   Best use for snowshoes is when the terrain is very steep or there is blown down timber.  Also they are convenient when setting up camp.  The down side of the snowshoe is that it is still relatively inefficient. Going uphill, downhill or on level surface you only travel as far as each stride.

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<h3>Skiing</h3>
This category has multiple sub categories.
<h3>All terrain skis (ATs)</h3>
What I normally recommend to guys first is All Terrain also known as Randonee (I will refer to this as AT).  An AT set up is basically a light weight downhill ski with either a Fritshe style or a Dynafit style binding.  You pair this ski with a lightweight AT ski boot and a set of skins.  Skins allow you to ski uphill. Skins are called skins because they used to be made from seal skins.  Now they are usually made from nylon or mohar.  The skins get attached to the bottom of your ski and are smooth going one way and catch going the other way, thus allowing you to ski up hill.  An AT binding will have two modes, a downhill mode where your heel is locked in and a climbing/ walking mode where you pivot on your toe.  Skiing downhill with your heel locked in gives you the most control ans is also the easiest to teach people.  Having your heel locked in also gives a lot more control when skiing with a heavy ruck on.

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<h3>Telemark equipment</h3>
Next on the skiing category is Telemark equipment.  Telelmark gets its name from the town of Telemark in Norway.  With a Telemark setup you have a lightweight downhill type of ski paired with a telemark binding.  The telemark binding locks the ball of your foot in place.  With this type of setup your heel is always going to be free allowing you to easily move cross country.  On the descent you will need to learn to do telemark style turns (basically deep knee lunges).  This is harder than downhill style turns, so it is a little bit less efiicient on the downhill side.

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<h3>Cross country skies</h3>
Cross country gear varies widely.  Some CC setups resemble lightweight Tele gear and have some backcountry applicability.  Most modern CC setups are designed for groomed CC trails.  The CC ski is usually very light and has a waxless base (think of a fishscale type pattern on the bottom of the ski that is smooth going one way and catches going the other way).  These skies will oftentimes not have a metal edge which further reduces its ability to traverse challenging terrain. The upside of CC gear is that if you have a track that is set and you are on relatively flat terrain you can move very efficiently.

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<h3>Hybrids.  The skishoe.</h3>
When I first saw/ heard about these I was not overly enthusiastic, but one of my good friends was raving about them so I wanted to give them a shot.  Skishoes are basically very short/ fat skies (1.25m) with metal edges, a built in partial skin and a universal binding.  The universal binding allows you to use any boot and buckle in with a  snowboard style buckle.  The strength of the skieshoe is that they are easy to use and still allow for some glide while travelling on a level surface or downhill.  They also allow you to move around a little easier than full length skies.

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