winter ml tips n tricks

Sun, Feb 10, 2008

Following on from my winter ML training, I thought I’d write down some tips ’n tricks I picked up along the way. Hopefully they’ll prove useful to anyone who’s thinking of doing their winter ML or indeed anyone who fancies going out in the winter mountains. These points are a brain dump after the training. Practical stuff that I’d teach on the hill, like step kicking, step cutting, cutting rest ledges, self-arrest and using pits to assess avalanche risk aren’t included as these really need to be demonstrated on the hill.

Navigation

  • I used a laminated map, cut the hard cover off and and gaffer taped up the edges of the lamination. I found on my summer ML assessment that leaving the cover on created a bulky surface that allowed the map to flex too much and the lamination to split open. Inconveniently this happened on my last night nav down off Cairngorm and the ridge line eventually disintegrated in a mulchy mess!
  • Make the map as small as possible. I gaffer taped a full OS laminated map down to about 5 inches by 4 inches with a two day route visible. That way you're not pulling it out of your pocket and hunting around for the location.
  • Keep the map in your pocket when you're following a bearing. A laminated map is slippy, especially when it's covered in snow and it makes a great sail on the end of your arm. It's not very practical either if you've got the compass in one hand and the ice axe in the other.
  • Before you put the map away and head off into the storm, have the information ready in your head. Which direction, how far, how long and any ticking off features along the way. Do this in the same order every time, so it becomes second nature. Prepare your compass by estimating direction first. If you're heading SW along a ridge, turn the compass to W before taking the bearing. You'll have less movement of the housing to do.
  • I prefer laminated small maps in winter as I find that map cases can wrinkle when you're taking a bearing. The compass sometimes sticks to the clear case and the map underneath becomes a bit blurred.
  • If you've got a Suunto altimeter, think about using it with its lanyard. Some people have a massive velcro strap that goes round their winter jacket wrist so they can use the watch/altimeter without pulling back acres of layers. Personally I don't like anything round my wrist so I use mine on a lanyard round my neck. If the wind tries to whip it around I just tuck it into the nav cupboard on my jacket (see next point).
  • Organise your jacket. I have four pockets in my goretex jacket, all on the front. My altimeter is on a lanyard round my neck with the compass lanyard attached to it and they both sit just inside one pocket when not in use. Stops them flying about round my neck. I call this pocket my "nav cupboard". Opposite pocket is where the map lives, so if I need a quick clarification of the ground I can hold the compass in my left hand and fish out the map with my right.
  • On training and assessment you don't know where you'll be going so you end up using a full size OS map. If you're out for a day on the hill and you've got Anquet or Memory Map, print out the section you need and laminate it. I like to print out 1:50,000 at 1:25,000 scale as my eyesight is Mr. Magoo!
  • Get a pair of goggles. These are indispensibl in spindrift and driving snow/hail. They're great for me as they let me keep my specs on in the worst of conditions. The yellow or light brown lenses are the best as they bring out the detail in the snow. Get double lensed ones as they are fog free. Mine aren't completely fog free. I find I have to be moving to clear them but they're mostly excellent. They're also good for confidence as you're not squinting and scowling into a blizzard. On the other hand, they insulate you from the environment and I suppose they could give you false impression of just how serious the conditions are becoming. I got that tip from Allen Fyffe.
  • Get the most powerful headtorch you can afford. I was going to bring my Lumicycle 12W spot lamp from the bike but forgot. When you're standing on the edge of a reentrant in the middle of the night, in a screaming blizzard, having something that unzips the blackness and gets you as much detail from the ground as possible is worth its weight in gold. It won't help much into the teeth of driving snow (think car headlamps in a blizzard) but it helps a lot when you need to see for any sort of distance, like searching for a summit cairn or knoll.
  • A lot of instructors don't carry spare batteries in winter. They carry a spare headtorch instead. I can see the wisdom of this. The new headtorches run off 4 AA batteries, which gives you four times the chance of dropping one and losing all light in a winter storm. The old style headtorches had one big battery and to be honest I can't stand the new ones. The ones with the halogen LED combo seem good, theoretically, until you use them on the hill and realise that the LEDs use the power up and your main halogen beam is yellow and useless, just when you need it.
  • A personal rough guide to timing I use is the millimeter (mm) scale on the compass. If you walk at 3 kph the mm scale tells you how long it will take. If the leg is 1 km, it'll take you 20 mins at 3 kph and you can read this direct from the mm scale. Subtract a quarter if you plan to walk at 4 kph. This gives you the "flat distance" timing. On top of that you've got 1 min per contour on flat to moderate slopes and 1.5 mins per contour on steeper ground. I find this works quite well for me. If I need to measure distances, as when pacing out distances, I always use the romer scale.
Snow hole
  • Get a metal shovel with a telescopic handle. The longest extension is great for starting the hole and for digging shovel-ups while the smallest length is good for digging in a confined space. Plastic shovels are no use. They just bend/break in hard neve/ice.
  • Take a layer off before you start digging. It's hard work and you'll sweat.
  • The further into the hill you dig, the more the snow will pile up at the hole entrance. I found two bods on each entrance was handy. One digging, one clearing, swapping over now and then. Once the entrances are dug and linked up, everyone can dig inside, out of the weather.
  • Marigolds are good. Anything on your hands that's not waterproof will quickly become saturated and unusable. I put on a pair of Extremities tuff sacs (goretex glove shells) and they kept my normal gloves warm and dry while digging.
  • Organise your rucksack. A lot of people use rucksack liners but I found individually dry-bagged items worked better, for me anyway. I had spare gloves/hats in one bag, buffalo jacket in another, sleeping bag/bivvy bag combo in another. That way everything was modularised and waterproofed. I could just take everything out of the rucksack and keep it all in a pile of dry bags next to me while I sorted the sleeping accommodation. In the morning, as the hole disintegrated, I just had to cram the sleeping stuff into their bag and drop the other dry bags into the sac and out the hole.
  • Make your sleeping platform go into the hillside rather than along the length of the hole. That way, the poor sod on the inside doesn't have to crawl over you to do his business outside!
  • Once the hole is dug into the hillside, dig down so you can stand up comfortably. It's amazing how much easier it is if you can stand up in the hole.
  • Make sure every single surface of the hole is smooth. Any rugosities, ridges, sharp bits, folds in the snow etc. will attract drips. If the roof is smooth the water is channelled away from you.
  • Don't use night light candles, the wee ones in the foil cups as they just melt into the snow and disappear!
  • Same goes for your stove. If you've got a three legged type stove with a remote canister, put some tin foil under it or it'll work it's way towards Australia!
  • I saw a Jetboil stove in action in the hole. Excellent stove. Gas canister is insulated from the snow and you can hang it up. The integral pot thingy is brillo too. I think I'll get one. It's also not as heavy as I imagined. Apparently meths stoves aren't too good in a snowhole as they need a bit of a draft to work efficiently. When you're in a snowhole, the outside world does not exist. You can't hear or feel a single thing from out there.
Steep ground
  • Get a boot/crampon combo that lets you put on crampons in the least possible time. I've got a very old set of French style bindings, all leather straps and buckles and they take for ever to put on. Also, when you're dressed up like the michelin man it's quite difficult, unless you're a yoga expert, to contort your winterised body into a position where you can de-ice and thread the buckles. I liked the look of the toe-bail/rear clip type crampons. You can put them on fairly easily and so be ready help the clients with theirs'. The instructor raised a good point though when he saw my ancient bindings in that you should be aware of such bindings in case a client has them and you need to help them with fitting.
  • Plastic boots are good for prolonged step kicking and are great for those step-in crampons. I didn't have any problems with a pair of semi rigid suede/leather/goretex Meindle boots though. Before assessment I think I'll upgrade my boots/crampons combo though. It's just such a hassle with straps. You shouldn't have to think twice about putting on/taking off crampons for short sections of dodgy ground.
  • When estimating the angle of a snow slope, if your walking poles are the same length, stand one vertical on the slope and put the other horizontally above it, handle to handle, so they make a right angle with both sides the same length. If the horizontal pole touches the slope then it's 45 degrees.
  • When ascending a steep slope with a party, keep a steady rhythm going and if the slope steepens or becomes harder snow just speed up the step cutting/kicking. In winter, as a leader, you have to work a lot harder. You don't slow down as the slope steepens. You just up the effort.
  • If your descent route goes down a lee slope, look at the mountains round about you, at their lee slopes. Your lee slope will be much the same in terms of snow loading and cornices.
  • Carry your ice axe behind your shoulder, pick pointing away from you, not on the rucksack. That way you can whip it out when you need it and bung it back when you're past the steep stuff.
  • There's always heated debate about ice axe length and the "sex appeal" of short, technical looking axes as opposed to longer walking axes. The axe I used measures, from top surface of the pick to the bottom of the spike, 70cm and I had absolutely no problem cutting steps. In fact it was much better than my other 50cm axe in that it acted like a pole to aid stability and cutting steps downhill was a breeze with the length of the shaft. Having an axe you can use for stability is great for avoiding having to use self-arrest techniques. Stay upright is the name of the game.
  • Don't confuse your slings. In summer I use a 16 foot sling for confidence "roping" but this is far too big for an ice axe belay in winter. Use a smaller sling in winter.
Knots
  • In summer you only need one knot, the overhand on a bight. In winter, due to conditions and belay methods, you need to know a few more, so practice these. You can watch them all on YouTube.
  • Bowline. For tying a client to the end of the rope. It's just not possible to get them to step into a loop as in summer, as in winter they'll be wearing crampons and it'll be blowing 70mph.
  • Clove hitch. For tying a sling onto a buried ice axe anchor.
  • Italian hitch. This isn't mentioned in the training but given a good rock anchor, a sling and an HMS crab, I'd prolly use this knot to lower a client on a direct belay.
Misc
  • I got this tip from Allen Fyffe while on the hill. He doesn't adjust the length of his walking poles. Instead, he wraps self amalgamating tape round them which provides a gripping surface on steep ground. So instead of shortening the poles on steeper ground, he just moves his hands down onto the tape. You quickly learn that poles ice up in winter and can't be adjusted. Plus if you set them to the same length and keep them that way you can use them to estimate slope angles (see steep ground).
  • Winter ML is about three things. Navigation, digging and working like a dog. The better your nav, the less the emergency digging (snowholes/shovel-ups) but you'll still do a lot of avalanche pit digging. You work like a dog when step cutting and especially so if you have to get clients down steep ground using belays and rope work.
  • Carry loads of gloves in a dry bag. Your winter day is measured in gloves. A one glove day is good weather, while a four glove day is a normal wild winter's day on the hill. One of the instructors mentioned a quote he heard. "If your hands are cold you can't think" and you need to be able to think all the time in winter. When the weather is wild I change gloves when the ground changes higher up. It's great to have new, warm gloves.
  • SealSkinz socks are the beez kneez. My feet were always warm and dry no matter what the conditions. The winter gloves are good too although my hands cooled a lot when not moving and they're difficult to dry, even on a radiator overnight.
  • Use the bright orange dry bags. They're easier to spot in the snow!
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