We love being outside even when the weather is awful and the world is icy. It doesn’t keep us inside but, we do a few things to help us walk safely in an icy world.
Orthopedics’ “Delight”
Ice on deck.
Ice makes walking treacherous. Orthopedic physicians are busy during icy periods treating people who’ve slipped and fallen. We’ve developed a strategy to make walking safer when ice coats the world. Here are a few tips:
Boots and Traction Devices
One boot without gripper. One with.
We have summer and winter boots and shoes. Every fall we stow our summer boots in the attic and bring down our winter ones. In the spring we reverse the process. Summer boots usually have less aggressively textured soles of harder rubber designed for walking on concrete, rocks, and packed trails. Winter boots, in contrast, have soles with aggressive treads often made of softer rubber that grips ice. Usually winter boots are also insulated to keep feet toasty warm on frigid walks.
When it’s really slippery out we pull traction devices on our winter boots. Made of a stretchy material that makes them easy to pull on over boot bottoms, they have tiny metal spikes that stick into the ice to give a grip. Just don’t wear them inside!
Trekking Poles
Trek poles
Trekking poles, canes, and walking sticks all serve the same purpose. Stumble a bit and they give a third point of contact with the ground, often preventing a fall. When it’s warm out Rich prefers using a strong wooden stick when he walks on soft or uneven ground, but he switches to a trekking pole when it’s icy.
Here is the tip! Take the rubber bottom off and use the tip!
Rubber and wooden bottomed poles slip on ice. A sharp metal point that looks like a nail is built into many trekking poles. It’s easy to jab it into slippery ice to get a more stable grip. Often trekking poles come with a rubber sleeve that can be slipped over the sharp point for use when it’s not icy.
Grit
At Winding Pathways we avoid using chemical ice melters. Salt is amazingly toxic to plants and many animals, especially aquatic ones. It also corrodes cars. Other chemical “ice melters” are less than good for the yard or environment. Here are some traction boosters we use:
Grit and Sand
Sand: Sand is easy to find. Each fall we buy a few bags of “play sand” at a building supply store. It’s intended to be used in kid’s sandboxes, so it is clean and uniform.
Chick grit: Even better than sand is chick grit found where supplies for chickens are sold. Sand is mostly tiny round stones that roll when sprinkled on ice. Chick grit is tiny particles of hard dense rock that has been crushed to size. It has sharp edges that stick to ice better than sand. We put a few pounds of chick grit in cans near our doors. It’s convenient to sprinkle it on icy stairs and walkways.
Wood ashes: Back when nearly everyone heated with wood or coal, ashes were commonly sprinkled on icy walkways for traction. Ashes still work but have a downside. When they get moist the slurry sticks to boots and easily gets tracked inside to leave residue on the floor.
On all the above, remember WIPE YOUR BOOTS OFF CAREFULLY before entering the house/a building. This avoids tracking in excess and unwanted sand, grit, ash.
To sum it up, BE CAREFUL and avoid a nasty slip on the ice.
