When do you choose to bring micro spikes, crampons, and/or an ice ax?

[Wandering Daisy]

Learning to use crampons, not so hard until you try to do it with a full pack on. With crampons you cannot sink your feet on a self arrest or it may just catapult you over and shoot you down the hill. Falls happen suddenly and you have to do the self-arrest without having the crampons get in the way INSTINCTIVELY. A lot of practice on different snow conditions will turn knowledge into an actual skill.

Have you ever fallen, with crampons and self-arrested, with a full pack on?

Micro-spikes have their use, but not when crampons are needed. Only experience will allow you to make the right decision on which to use and when. RJ Secor had crampons with him when he fell on Mt Baldy and was seriously injured. But the crampons were in his pack, not on his feet. A few climbers fall and are killed on Mt Whitney every early season. Snow needs to be taken seriously.

[thegib]

I would only bring crampons for an early May or earlier trip with a north aspect slope I needed to get over. Never wear crampons w/o an axe handy. An axe can be a great psychological help. Shoes matter. Stiff soles can get you up most slopes that micro spikes can, and some types of rubber sole just seem to have no bite on snow. But mostly there's just experience. As WD mentioned, people die every year on the slope below Whitney because they don't anticipate the difference between sun warmed and shadow hardened snow. Some people seem to quickly understand snow and others not so much. Best of course would be to do an early season trip with someone with experience.

[Gogd]

I do not know if it is still available, but the Seattle Mountaineers have published a Mountaineering book called "Freedom of the Hills" which has some good instruction material.

Using snow gear requires a LOT of practice! In addition to a class or a mentor who can teach you, one class is not enough. Go out on snow, gradually increasing the difficulty until you get a real feel of it.

Regardless of the equipment used, snow is an ever-changing medium and a lot of the safety is a matter of many years of experience. Do not go up a slope to the point where you cannot safely turn back down.

Also be aware of melt-outs near rocks - you can post-hole into these and injure a foot or knee.

Link to Freedom of the Hills https://www.mountaineers.org/books/book ... -edition-1 This text is a good source of basic techniques, but no substitute for in-field instruction and experience - it states such in the introduction pages. To that point WD offers sage advice about preparation. Whenever I set out on snow travel I find a slope suitable for practicing arrest and recovery techniques. And if traveling with a group, additionally practice catching falls and other rope team skills. Snow travel skills are not forever skills, like learning to ride a bike. They are more like ballet and football skills, that rust in the off season and need to be renewed with practice to be effective.

Keep in mid you may be able to get up a slope of soft snow with no special footware using the kick step technique, but if that snow hardens before you are off it, it can become extremely dangerous to attempt descending without proper equipment and the skills required to address the situation. It may appear I obsess over this particular detail, but keep in mind several people perish every year on Mt Whitney, Mt Baldy and other So Cal mountains because they could not safely travel over late day hardening snow.

The Inyo SAR people hate microspikes. They regularly make posts like this one about this subject early season.
Screenshot_20240715_152259_Facebook.jpg
Personally I own crampons and an axe, and I don't own spikes. I also own skis and ski crampons and I'm pretty experienced on snow.

I don't see what's so hard about crampons and an axe. Taking a class to learn how to use them seems like overkill.

Hmm, self arrest on an icy 40⁰ slope is not easy, especially if the fall is abrupt and the landing hard, more so if you find yourself tobogganing over mixed terrain.

There are techniques a good field clinic can inform that elude a would be DYI mountaineer (e.g. when to go with French vs German technique; mixed terrain travel; knowledge of the variety of options, regarding proper construction of snow belay and rappel stations). Since axe and crampon techniques are considered standard snow travel skills these clinics often include these other skills, that otherwise may take many outings to acquire through trial and error.

Lastly there are advanced skills that behoove XC trekkers to know (e.g. how to extricate an incapacitated team member from high aspect slopes, and if engaging in winter travel, snow pack analysis, route selection strategies, and running belay on skis). But I digress.

Ed