Crampon or not to crampon?

                So, with the winter hardware dug out from the cellar as the 2010/2011 snows bit early. The sad reports of near fatal and fatal mountain accidents start to roll in , most recent i believe on Swirral Edge. With the lack of freeze and thaw, the snow conditions in North Wales back in December started soft and powdery. A few trips up Ddaer Ddu and other ridges revealed some windblown ice and the odd patches treacherous verglas.

                Years ago i used to be reluctant to fit crampons until it was  absolutely necessary, due to the hassle of fiddling around with the old style bindings. An eventual investment in a decent pair of step ins, made a massive difference as they are pre primed for speed and efficiency, so fitting is easy.

                I can’t count the number of times i heard the passing comment ’Ohh, you won’t need your crampons on mate’ come from a guy i’ve just observed fall over 10 mins earlier and from the echoing obscenities obviously hurt himself. Am i alone in thinking that there still prevails or used to be some macho bravado for NOT putting your crampons on until you have drawn first blood on your shins or at least twice slipped and slid 10 metres down a gully and smashed your face in.

                Seriously though, I have been winter mountaineering for around 30 years and i still see folks carrying crampons on there packs and not using them when i consider conditions to be at least dubious. Maybe it’s my definition of ‘dubious’. With the first falls of snow, on a recognised walk in trail, hard packing occurs quickly once it’s received some repeated use. Off trail or in virgin snow most of the time your boots are making contact with wet rock or the vibram pattern of your boots retain the snow structure and make progress reasonably safe. One infamous location for this type of hard snow packing is the Snowdon zig zags. It’s high enough to maintain a constant cool temperature and in shadow enough to reduce the likelihood of melt from the sun. The queue’s that build up here are notorious in the winter. Here, with the top is in sight, for folks carrying crampons to fit them for this last little section appears to be a real pain.  I’ve had guys whizz passed me from a higher zig or zag above, any accident resulting from taking someone else out on the way down rather than the fall itself. It’s so quick to fit crampons, would it be good practice for the more experienced winter mountaineers to set an example to hasty by taking the time to fit crampons at the start of difficult sections instead of bashing up a trail trying to avoid the tumbling masses.

                On the flip side, in the early spring with the snow gone, the state of the rock on the track below Devils Kitchen, or any usual route up Tryfan, looks like the scene of a domestic between Mr & Mrs Wolverine. So, again, pretty obvious, but good practice to take your crampons off as soon as you feel conditions improve.

                Quite a few of the accident reports i’ve read ‘slipped on frozen turf’ i would accept that this makes for a difficult choice on whether or not to fit crampons, as they can cause a massive amount of environmental damage very quickly