Snow & Glacier Travel

A quick belay improvised by standing on the head of a planted ice axe and running the rope around the shaft and boot, used to protect a partner over a short snow section without building a full anchor.

How a climber's feet meet the slope in crampons: flat-footing (French technique) keeps the sole's points biting on moderate ground, while front-pointing (German technique) kicks the front points in straight on steeper ice.

1. Flat-footing (French technique): Keep ankles flexed so the crampon's underfoot points stay flat against the slope, used on low-angle to moderate snow and ice where speed and ankle comfort matter more than raw purchase.
2. Front-pointing (German technique): On steeper ice, kick the front points straight into the slope with the heel dropped low, climbing more like a ladder than a ramp, with an ice axe or tools for balance.
3. Pied troisième (combination technique): On a diagonal ascent, front-point with the uphill foot and flat-foot the downhill one, getting security from one foot and ankle relief from the other without switching technique outright.
4. Commit to each placement: Kick or stamp deliberately and weight the foot fully before moving the other -- scraping or skating the points across the surface to test it wears them down and is more likely to skid.

The rope systems and pulley setups a roped team uses to haul a climber back out after a fall into a crevasse.

1. Arrest: The instant the rope comes tight, the rest of the team self-arrests immediately -- ice axe, body weight, and crampons dug in -- to stop being pulled toward the hole and hold the fallen climber's weight.
2. Anchor and transfer the load: Once the fall is held, build an anchor capable of holding a pull from more than one direction (a multi-directional anchor), then move the rope's load onto it so the arresting climber is freed to move.
3. Check on the climber: Approach the edge cautiously -- it can be undercut or bridged with snow that's ready to give -- and talk to the fallen climber to assess injuries and whether they can help with their own rescue.
4. Rig a haul system: If they can't climb out or be belayed up directly, build a simple 3:1 (often called a Z-pulley): a Prusik right at the anchor captures progress on the loaded strand, and a second one further out on that same strand is where the haul line attaches, running through a carabiner back at the anchor and back to the team. Every three feet they pull raises the climber about one.

The principle behind most snow anchors: burying a flat or elongated object -- a snow fluke, a picket, an ice axe, even a stuff sack packed with snow -- at an angle in a trench, so that loading the attached sling or cable pulls it deeper into the snowpack rather than out.

An aluminum stake driven straight down into firm snow, or buried flat and loaded like a deadman when the snow is too soft to hold a vertical placement. A sling girth-hitched around the midpoint of a buried picket holds far better than clipping the top.

Protection placed at intervals while a party moves together rather than pitching the climb, so a fall by one climber loads the nearest piece instead of pulling the whole team off.

Stopping a slide on snow using an ice axe, body position, and crampons, before a slip on a slope turns into an uncontrolled fall.

1. Get into position: The instant you start to slide, roll onto your stomach with your head uphill and feet downhill -- whatever position you fell into, fix it first before doing anything else.
2. Plant the axe: Grip the head with one hand at the collarbone and the shaft with the other near the hip, pick angled down into the snow and the spike held clear of the slope so it can't catch and wrench your arm.
3. Drive in with your weight: Arch your back and press your chest down onto the axe head to bury the pick, using body weight rather than arm strength to dig in and build friction.
4. Spread out, feet up: Spread your legs wide for a stable stance, but keep your knees and toes off the snow until you've slowed down -- crampon points or boot toes catching the slope at speed can flip you into a cartwheel instead of stopping you.

A teardrop-shaped trench cut into consolidated snow or ice, with the rope wrapped around the mound left standing rather than through any hardware -- an anchor built entirely out of the slope itself. It has to be cut large, often a meter or more across in soft snow, to hold weight reliably.

A flat metal plate on a cable, buried at an angle and rigged as a deadman so that load on the cable drives it deeper into the snowpack instead of out. Generally holds better than a picket in soft, deep snow where a stake alone tends to pull through.

Forcing a boot into snow to create a foothold while ascending, the basic technique for moving up snow slopes too firm to wallow through and too soft to need crampons.

1. Kick decisively: Swing from the knee and drive the toe or edge of the boot into the slope with one firm kick rather than several tentative ones, packing enough of a platform to hold weight.
2. Match the kick to the line: Kick straight in with the toe on a direct ascent; on a traverse, kick in with the uphill edge of the boot to build a flatter, more level step.
3. Test before you commit: Settle weight onto the new step gradually and check it holds, especially in variable or wind-affected snow, before bringing the other foot up.
4. Share the work: Breaking a staircase up a long slope is tiring -- swap the lead periodically, and have the rest of the party reuse the same steps rather than kicking fresh ones.

The strongest way to bury a picket: set it vertically in a slot, then cut a second, narrower slot perpendicular to it at the surface so the sling can exit cleanly under load. Without that second slot, a loaded picket tends to trench forward through the snow instead of holding still.