Snow climbing tips

Putting in a long track of steps may look like mindless grunt work, but there is a subtle art to long snow ascents. Try these tips to ease the way for you and your team:

• Use trekking poles. Keep them short, about waist level.
• After you punch a step, wait a moment for the snow to set up a bit before you commit your weight to the step. Weighting the step in the same movement you used to create it causes your foot to sink in deeper then necessary and uses more energy.
• When following a posthole or deep snow track, let your boots scrape a bit of snow off the side of the hole and into it with each step. This helps to fill it in and causes less effort for you and those behind you.
• When traversing deeper snow on a steep slope, step slightly to the uphill side of the step. This will scrape off a bit of snow to help fill in the step.
• Using old tracks is helpful in breakable crust.
• If the steps are not holding your weight, try stepping on the convex bumps and ridges on either side of the existing step. (Convex features generally can hold more weight, as they are exposed to more of the colder air of the night sky.)

These tips are from The Mountaineers Press, “Alpine Climbing: Techniques to Take You Higher” by Mark Houston and Kathy Cosley