The Art of Hiking: Downhill/Uphill

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By Adrienne Hall.

Hiking up or down a steep slope places considerable demands on your muscles and joints. Although crawling is one option, here we present three ways to decend safely, and tips on ascending smoothly.

Downhill - try these methods when traveling down a steep slope or down a slope of loose rock or dirt.

Always keep your weight forward. If you don't, the weight of your pack will pull you back, and you may find yourself sliding down on your bottom.

The first method involves turning sideways and stepping with your knees bent.
If you'd rather approach the hill straight on, you can dig into the earth with your heels.
The third technique involves flexing your ankles and walking down slowly. Make contact with the earth with your entire foot.

Uphill - the key to hiking uphill is finding a steady pace you can maintain all day.

These tips won't make the mountain any smaller, but they will help you get there.

Keep your foot flat on the ground as long as you can before rising onto your toes and lifting the foot forward.
Breathe in rhythm with your footsteps -- 2 or 4 or 6 or 8 steps per breath, depending.
When either your lungs, due to thin air in high elevations, or your legs, due to exertion, need rest, use the rest step.

Rest step - Advance one step to a new position. Then lock the rear leg and relax the advanced leg. Pause a short moment. Finally, put the advanced leg to work again. The pause may last only a few microseconds, but it will do wonders for your ability to keep going.