Posted by blackhawk The only thing I miss is newly fallen snow and that great smell. Careful with the spikes; a planted foot leaves your knee more vulnerable to serious injury. Never pivot with your foot planted. Always pivot on your toes not heels. Meh I hate ice... small steps.

I have learned this lesson the hard way. Not exploring though and I'm not sure I'd even wear the spikes for exploring. I always go do a few weekends of ice climbing in the mountains, which usually involves some type of hike into the backcountry with big ice picks on your boots. It's definitely a learned skill but managed a few face plants my first year. I'll send you a few frozen waterfall pics...you'll be on a plane in no time! ;)

Make sure you're dress for your surroundings. I don't mean temperature wise. Last time I went exploring in the snow I realized my exploring buddy and I stuck out like a sore thumb because we were wearing dark clothes like we normally do and we were surrounded by white. Luckily no one saw us!

Posted by Lola AB I have learned this lesson the hard way. Not exploring though and I'm not sure I'd even wear the spikes for exploring. I always go do a few weekends of ice climbing in the mountains, which usually involves some type of hike into the backcountry with big ice picks on your boots. It's definitely a learned skill but managed a few face plants my first year. I'll send you a few frozen waterfall pics...you'll be on a plane in no time! ;)

Well its 78 F here right now... hard to beat that for a winter day.
Definitely like to see those pics.
That sounds pretty cool.
No pun intended.

Posted by blackhawk Well its 78 F here right now... hard to beat that for a winter day. Definitely like to see those pics. That sounds pretty cool. No pun intended.

I will pm you a couple

And maybe I'll be on a plane...78 F sounds pretty good. Actually, a lot of people I know up here head to Texas at some point through the winter months.

Posted by Lola AB I will pm you a couple And maybe I'll be on a plane...78 F sounds pretty good. Actually, a lot of people I know up here head to Texas at some point through the winter months.

And then summer comes...

Posted by Dee Ashley And then summer comes...

lol and they all head home so they don't cook ;)

Summer for above ground. Winter for below ground.

Posted by Cosmic Summer for above ground. Winter for below ground.

Except steam tunnels. Steam tunnels get more dangerous the colder the weather gets, because the steam plants produce more steam to keep buildings heated, making the tunnels hotter.

That's not to say you can't explore steam tunnels in the winter, they'll just increase your risk of heat exhaustion or heatstroke. Touching the pipes themselves will pretty much always lead to severe burns, no matter what time of year.

another thing that id like to add is that snow shows exactly where you went, which can be problematic depending on the location.

Cold weather does limit where you can go because climbing things like cranes, ladders, and construction elevator shafts becomes difficult with freezing steel. The advantage, as people have already mentioned, is that there are fewer people and those people will generally wear hats or hoods that get in the way of their peripheral vision and muffle sounds making it harder for them to perceive something they are not actively looking/listening out for. Another benefit I just thought about is that it will he harder to find you if there are woods nearby and you are wearing white clothing in deep-ish snow not to mention that security/police probably won't go the extra mile to follow you through knee deep snow.

^^^So hard to run through deep snow though! lol Having done that recently!

Snow is a double edged sword...shows where you've gone but also shows if you are the only one or not.

Then again, it's like -1000 here right now so snow seems a little irrelevant lol