Andy wrote:
> the reason I asked is because I was up in the lake district wild camping in
> February this year and on the way back down I noticed several people who had
> ice axes attached to there backpacks, and I couldn't help wondering what the
> point of carrying them up there was, as there was probably no more than
> twenty square feet of snow up there!.
Unfortunately a judgment of the conditions every step of a route can be
tricky from the bottom of the path. On one occasion I left my axe in
the car because there was no snow to be seen and I had some, ummm,
"interesting" moments later on when I had to cut myself steps with a
handy rock. Nul Points for brains there...
> I also noticed what I believe were
> marks from crampons on a lot of the rocks on the paths. surely even if it
> had snowed heavily that day there wouldn't be enough snow to use something
> like that?.
Most use I've had from crampons in a day was actually after a major
thaw, which suddenly turned cold. Pretty much the whole of Lochnagar
was covered in one huge sheet of water ice, and progress would have been
impossible without them. Crampons are for ice, not snow, and all you
need for ice is water and cold.
> and aren't you at risk of impaling yourself on the thing every
> time you trip over?.
Yes, which is why you shouldn't take them when you /know/ you won't need
them. But you often don't know...
Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net
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