settle down gotoma and listen to someone who has been skiing and mountaineering for a LONG time.
Setting your own bootpack is just fine, go for it! It is tough and a wate of energy but it gets the job done in certain conditions, mainly late spring frozen snow. I would never consider bootpcking in deep powder, your the man if you do...
If someone on skins follows your track, they would not do any damage to your foot holes, in fact they would further compress the snow and make it better, wider and easier to hike again. Their skins would span the boot holes leaving your steps in the snow...for the skinner it would be easier to make their own path, as a bootpack usually follows the fallline more directly than any skinner could.
Conversly, when you bootpack on a previously skinned track only, you are ruining their work and likely using the same effort it would take to make your own path.
Setting your own bootpack is just fine, go for it! It is tough and a wate of energy but it gets the job done in certain conditions, mainly late spring frozen snow. I would never consider bootpcking in deep powder, your the man if you do...
If someone on skins follows your track, they would not do any damage to your foot holes, in fact they would further compress the snow and make it better, wider and easier to hike again. Their skins would span the boot holes leaving your steps in the snow...for the skinner it would be easier to make their own path, as a bootpack usually follows the fallline more directly than any skinner could.
Conversly, when you bootpack on a previously skinned track only, you are ruining their work and likely using the same effort it would take to make your own path.