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[pct-l] Many ways to skin a cat.



I taught self arrest for many years. What I tried to impress in my students
was that while it was good to practice the real thing just to get the general
idea of what to do -- stop from sliding using the pick of the ice ax, when
the real thing happened, surprise and suddenness could lay waste to any
preconceived plan
   If you slip on steep snow your reflex is going to be to grab the ice ax
with both hands. If the snow is soft enough 9 times out of 10 that alone will
stop you. If it doesn't then the key is to not freeze up and DO something to
try and stop. Just having the ax greatly increases the chance for success. No
one can predict who will freeze up and who won't except to say the more times
you slip, the less likely you are to freeze up because either you quit due to
fear, injury or death or you quickly learn not to. I can say that education
has nothing to do with reflex to the unexpected, only experience can hone
that skill
   Sure, take a class if you can. I highly recommend it, and not just for
liability reasons! But if you can't, (and I'm betting that many who start
don't) what is your attitude going to be towards crossing a steep snow patch?
Believe me, it will range from so cocky sure that all need is a sharp rock,
to so fearful that you will refuse to cross. At least read Freedom of the
Hills section on self arrest just so you have a cognitive idea as to  just
what the hell we are talking about
  I reiterate. The ice axes most important function is indeed as a balance
tool.  It makes you a triped instead of a biped. It gives your arm a way to
participate in keeping you erect. Doesn't seem like a difficult concept to
me. Try it sometime! It also provides a handhold on a place where there
normally isn't one -- a snow slope! Pretty cool, huh!
  We must remember that we are not climbing Everest or Rainier, as I
remember. Forester pass is the exception. The prudent thing to do there if
unfamiliar with snow is to go after melt out, or if that is not feasible or
acceptable, wait at least until  several people with experience have gone
through  making steps that will greatly help your balance, or if that is not
feasible or acceptable, wait until 10am when the snow softens up enough to
make a  fall of more than 3 feet, in June, nearly impossible. If that is not
feasible or acceptable, put on instep crampons. What? No crampons, just a
sharp rock, it's 6 a.m. and there is Forester With Snow ahead of you with not
a step kicked in it, and your snow experience is zilch? I'd say going anyway
is a bit of an insult to even the Fatalist way of thinking
   It's those ICY slopes 100 yards wide that must be traversed that can be
dangerous because you can slide into rocks.( Read Cindy Ross's book, Journey
along the Crest) If I were unfamiliar with snow, I would carry a pair of 4
point instep crampons (and an ice ax) to bolster my confidence.  No
experience necessary. Just strap them on and you are a fly on the wall. In
hard snow. Once again, on hard snow. They work on hard snow only. It is
better NOT to wear them in soft snow because big snowballs accumulate on
them.  If snow is soft see above. The hassle of course is that you might have
to put them on and take them a half a dozen times in a few miles time.