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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>On Poles, Ice Axes, and Self-Arrest Pole
Grips:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Hiking or trekking poles serve
many good purposes and are a purely personal choice. Once on soft snow, the
summer stick becomes almost useless without a basket. If both hands are busy
with walking sticks on a snowy climb, should you slip and fall, your ability to
arrest is pretty poor compared to the use of an axe or self-arrest grip on the
uphill pole. The ice axe in the uphill hand is the definitive safety answer for
pre-fall anchor and post-fall arrest, should the anchor preventing you from
sliding not hold when you fall. Note: the use of a regular walking pole as a
plunged uphill anchor on a steep traverse when loaded by a fall often results in
a bent or broken pole, the former possibly stopping your slide and the latter
leaving you careening out-of-control down the hill with half a pole in your
hand. We do not recommend the use of aluminum poles as either anchors or arrest
aids. Self-arrest grips (Black Diamond's "whippet" or Leki's "claw) are a good
compromise. Carry one with a grip and one without in the snow, if you like two.
Use the self-arrest pole in the uphill hand on traverses with the other extended
on the downhill. Know how to self-arrest with either hand.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>As for snowshoes...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Snowshoes keep you afloat on
soft snow. Those with metal claws under foot can assist with those icy, straight
up climbs in the morning. As the day warms up, the hard, even icy, snowpack
turns into what some affectionately refer to as "sierra soup." When it does so,
you have to make a choice, plow or post-hole your way through it getting wet,
cold, and exhausted in the doing, stop for the day, or use snowshoes and
keep on going. For the thru hiker, they're primarily good as a traction aid
during the morning's ice and to keep going in the afternoon soup. There are
other choices: don't carry snowshoes (weight outweighs the benefits?) at all and
start hiking earlier in the morning (when the snow is hard) until "soup-time" or
just post-hole on and hope you don't hurt your legs or back in the
process.</FONT></DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>How to navigate over snow and not lose the trail:</DIV>
<DIV> (next edition)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Mtnned<BR>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>For Information on Programs, previous Trips, and Photo Gallery,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Please visit: <A
href="http://www.mountaineducation.com">www.mountaineducation.com</A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>