Available in Winter attribute

[+Scaber]

I live in Colorado where it can frequently snow. I have found many caches with the "available in Winter" attribute which turn out to be lamp post hides or caches hidden in rock crevices which both get covered in snow. To me, the "available in Winter" attribute suggests that the cache is hanging or in a spot that can not be covered in snow. There is no official description of this attribute from Groundspeak. Our Facebook group Geocaching Colorado: GCCO has had varying opinions of this attribute. What say you?

[+BlackRose67]

To me it means it's up high enough that it will not get covered in snow during a normal winter.

[+cerberus1]

The Available in Winter attribute (to me) means that there's a reasonable chance of finding it during our normal Winter weather.

Besides "high enough", under a ledge, etc, it could just be alongside a log, and the snow mound its length (reading the landscape) gives an indication of its location.

- I prefer ammo cans for those hides I might need to tap with my trekking axe to find.

[+L0ne.R]

Above the snow line. Usually hanging at least 2 feet off the ground. Not likely to be encased in ice, like in the nook of a tree where snow and water don't drain. Or in a protected spot.

I'm in Ontario. At least 1/3 of caches I've found marked Available in Winter are not snow and ice friendly,, They are ground hides or in spots that don't drain and end up blocks of ice.

[+narcissa]

This gets interpreted differently by different people, and it's region dependent as well, I think. Around here, we get tons of snow, so it usually means "won't be buried under the snow." I have seen people use it to just mean "This park is open in the winter" but that is a less common use.