What’s the worst kind of steep?

[Okhotnik]

steep.

blow downs. with devils club mixed in lol

worse when wet. Wet rocks, scree is bad too

Hate wet rocks

 

[WV Mountaineer]

Appalachia coal field steep sucks the worst. I know it’s a western thing to relate terrain to a hunt. But, that’s because you’ve never been to the coal fields in WV, Kentucky, and VA. 75-80% slopes. Rhododendron thick. It’s miserable.

In comparison to southwest CO terrain, it takes a day or so for the lungs to acclimate. But, being a forester in the coalfields, the legs are on vacation when elk hunting.

 

[Billinsd]

Too steep for trees is too steep for me, some one once told me.

 

[Elk97]

Really steep + rocky + moss on rocks. Bonus points for the moss being really wet.

 

[Mule3006Elk]

I hate steep + scree rock
"" + downfall
"" + snow

Risk of injury goes way up. Trekking poles go a long way.

 

[dlee56]

Steep, grass/low vegutation, after the first snow of the year. Slip and slide

 

[ozyclint]

You want to see some real suck go to the West Coast of NZ and try to walk up from the bottom.

This^^^^

That's what we do when we hunt tahr and chamois with tradbows.

 

[butcherboy]

The Florida Mtns in NM are a beast all their own. Huge cliffs, tons of loose rock, old mine shafts, every single bush and plant has stickers, needles, or thorns. Rattlesnakes! Steep climbs just to go back down because you get cliffed out. I’ve had a few adventures in those pucker mountains!

 

[roosiebull]

We did this the first night of a hunt. Starterd up around 2:00, my buddy killed a buck at last light (4:30?) around 1,500', and we made the dumb decision to head straight down the mountain rather than backtrack 200 yards to where we had come up. We followed deer trails the whole way up but we didn't cross a single one until near the beach going down. With the salmon berry stalks being 6' tall, our headlights were worthless beyond a foot or two in front of our faces. Couldn't see the ground so every step was dubious. We walked with our bows extended above our heads to keep them out of the brush.

About halfway down I asked my buddy, "how the hell you could even train for this?". His response? Shake weight....

You guys who are too good for "as seen on TV" infomercials won't understand. But that evening sucked. Day .5 of a 7 day hunt.

I understand, haha… I will agree, vertical, soft ground, and solid salmonberry (which is usually wet or full of fern pollen) is a sucky steep, in the dark it’s even worse, because any game trails present cannot be recognized as such… you take a step, half of that step is robbed by soft ground, and all of the salmonberry stalks are hanging you up, keeping you off balance and trying to pull you back down the hill… even better when you are soaking wet, pants stuck to your legs, and a handful of wet debris stuck between your back and lumbar pad of your pack, with no opportunity or desire to get rid of it and pouring sweat stinging on the 1000 scrapes from salmonberry thorns… finally get where you are going, dump your pack off, and as you cool down, your lower back feels like it’s on fire from the abrasion from the salmonberry debris that’s been stuck there getting ground in by your lumbar pad the whole way up the mountain, haha

If it makes you feel any better, you become desensitized to that with time, just part of coastal hunting, and like anything, you get used to it.

What still pisses me off as everything mentioned above with heavy wet melting snow, that still has me cussing up the mountain, luckily it’s not all that common (as I pull a salmonberry berry thorn out of my hand while typing this reply, haha)

I picked the wrong ridge to climb last night, and once you commit, you are pretty much on that ridge to the top, because crossing a brush choked draw to the next finger ridge never is a good idea… I got stuck in a bunch of blowdown last night, and as anyone knows who has hunted coastal environments, blowdown isn’t just high stepping through it, you are climbing over giant old growth/second growth monsters with salmonberry, thimble berry, vine maple and devils club crawling out and consuming those giant trees.

I’m generally good at picking my paths, recognizing what things are going to look like where I’m going, but I certainly find myself in a complete shit hole on a fairly regular basis

That’s why the private timber company land is so popular for hunters, it’s just so much easier to navigate, and you have roads to walk, as well as habitat being very defined and obvious… that’s also why I mainly focus on National forest lands, it weeds out the crowds, and I have unpressured elk to hunt that nobody else is willing to look for… lower biomass of critters, much more spread out and the habitat is broad and undefined and sucks to cover country in, but luckily, the human brain can adapt to about anything, and it’s all worth it seeing those black antlers and white bodies come crashing through a wall of brush with very bad intentions.

 

[roosiebull]

steep.

blow downs. with devils club mixed in lol

worse when wet. Wet rocks, scree is bad too

Hate wet rocks

Wet rock and the wrong footwear is no fun… I do think there is a difference between suck and legit hazard, steep wet rock and hard slick soled boots takes the fun out of things while you are in it, knowing you cannot afford a mistake that could lead to an injury

 

[Okhotnik]

Wet rock and the wrong footwear is no fun… I do think there is a difference between suck and legit hazard, steep wet rock and hard slick soled boots takes the fun out of things while you are in it, knowing you cannot afford a mistake that could lead to an injury

Or stepping on wet dead falls. Thank God for hiking poles. I sure have broken one or two in my life breaking my fall lol,

 

[mtwarden]

OR deadfall that the bark is sluffing off and you don't know it's going to sluff off until it does it and sends you crashing down!

 

[Tilzbow]

Climbing up a steep mountain in an alder jungle against the grain of the shrubs is always a bitch since you’re fighting against gravity and the alder. Coming down the same slope is easier but can be hazardous for ankles and knees. Add snow and wet to the mix and it makes it even more “pleasant”.

For some reason, if there’s a 1% chance I’ll live if I fall I’m okay in nearly any steep terrain. Moving across high cliffs, where the chance of dying is 100% if you fall, makes my knees rattle and I started taking the long way around years ago.

 

[StuckoYota99]

The worst steep I've experienced is the western Washington rain forest. Even if it's dry the steep hill sides with thick brush suck.

 

[DAOutfitters208]

I’d say if your fighting a steep hill, with thick brush, and downfall mixed in that’s probably the worst. Well all that at night would be worse.

 

[North Idaho Stickbow]

I’d say if your fighting a steep hill, with thick brush, and downfall mixed in that’s probably the worst. Well all that at night would be worse.

You described all of North Idaho right there. Just add rain.

 

[BackcountryBloodline]

The only one I don't have experience with is really thick undergrowth which would be bad and frustrating.

If you wanna simulate it just wrap a bungee cord around your ankles next time you go for a hike.

I was actually just having this debate in my head last week when I got to a certain part of the mountain and thought maaaan, this is the worst part...I came to the conclusion that there really is no worst, they all suck in their own unique ways. I hate scree but if I had to pick it would be #3 particularly in the PNW.

@roosiebull bang on sir, I'm surprised you didn't mention oregon grapes though...that stuff is a pain in the Dickens and always shreds my hands up nicely when I'm climbing steep stuff with a heavy pack on.