Will llamas hike through snow?

Llama’s feet are not designed to travel in deep snow. The amazing thing though, is that a well-trained llama will trust you and follow you through areas that they probably would not go on their own.

In July of 1999 a group of us took a hike in the lower Chilcotin area west of the town of Lillooet in south-western British Columbia. After a steep climb of four hours we arrived in the alpine meadows below Shulaps Peak. We camped in the meadows but we found that because of dangerous creek crossings and deep snow we could not reach our planned destination.

This meadow was a welcome sight after hiking up about 2500 feet on a fairly hot day. We made camp here as there is lots of fresh water and a great view of Shulaps Peak.

The alpine flowers should have been out but were about a month late this year but it was nice to sit and enjoy the view from this waterfall.

Pizarro has only been on a couple of short hikes before this trip and he amazed us with his willingness to do whatever he was asked.

The llamas were not really happy about the deeper areas of snow when they sank through but we tried to stay where it was safe and they would follow trustingly. In this photo Derry Walsh is leading Hurricane whose back feet have just sunk into the snow. He recovered very quickly.

You would never guess that was in the middle of summer! We tried to stay on the rocks as much as possible, but the llamas didn’t seem to mind the snow once they got used to it.

Brian and Jane Pinkerton
29343 Galahad Crescent
Mount Lehman
British Columbia
Canada V4X 2E4

Phone: 604-856-3196
E-mail address: brianp@smartt.com