[pct-l] Crampons Advice

[Eric Lee]

Jeremy wrote:
>

What do you all think about whether crampons are necessary around this 
time in the high Sierra?
>

Probably not.  Crampons are needed on steep, hard, icy slopes where you
can't get good purchase with your shoes and there's a significant risk of an
uncontrolled fall.  Crampons are necessary in those conditions but there are
a couple of problems with crampons.

The first is that they can be more of a danger than a help to a novice.
(You didn't say whether you have experience with this gear.)  Strapping
sharp metal spikes onto your feet can have unintended consequences if you
don't know how to use them.  You can trip yourself up, shred your clothing,
or even lacerate yourself.

The second is that they can be worse than useless if the snow is soft and/or
sticky.  You can get snow balling up in the points so that not only do you
not have any firm purchase, you're actually walking around on ice cubes.
Not very helpful.

While there will still be steep snow-covered slopes in mid-June, the best
strategy is to time your traversals of them so that the heat of the day
softens the snow and you can kick steps.  Soft snow also means that if you
do slip, you're less likely to go into an uncontrolled fall.  Of course,
soft snow may also mean postholing so I guess it's a tradeoff.

I'd still recommend an ice axe (though some don't) because it's very useful
as a safety anchor in sketchy situations.  It can also be used for
self-arrest but that's something you probably want to have practiced first.
If you have to self-arrest then you've already mostly lost the battle.  It's
much better to not have to self-arrest in the first place.