How to Hike Downhill

Video Transcript

"Okay, now I'm going to talk about how to hike downhill. Hiking downhill is another half the battle, you get to the top you gotta get back down, there isn't gonna be a chair lift to take you to the bottom. So, there's a couple of techniques you need to keep in mind when you're hiking downhill. A big one is, using your poles, these are your best friends when you're going downhill. Some people prefer not to use them. But, since I like to use them I'm going to show you how. So, basically, make sure you're taking the smooth line. I can see the smooth line about right there, so, I'm going to use my poles to keep me from slamming onto my knees and just pick my way down slowly and carefully. Avoid any nasty rocks and I can, you will go a lot faster going downhill. You will go about fifty percent faster than you went uphill. If it takes you four hours to get up it will probably take you about two hours to get down. One thing that you should know is changing your pole grip. When you're going uphill your hands are going to be like this, so you can push. When you're going downhill you want the opposite. You want your hand to be on top so you can keep yourself from leaning too hard on your knees and it will keep your legs a lot more comfortable. You'll be less tired at the end of the day and you will be a much happier camper at the end."