BESIDES technical skills. a growing knowledge of the complex environment encountered on snow and ice climbs is a necessary ingredient of safe mountain ascents. Such knowledge is gained bit by bit. over a period of many seasons. in many weathers. on diverse peaks. A theoretical acquaintance with the common conditions that you will encounter or should avoid will help you recognize and cope with them.
The most obvious snow and ice climbing is on glacier peaks. However. it may be unrelated to the glaciers on a particular peak. or may exist on non-glacier peaks. where it is often found alternating with rock. Superficially. the same techniques are used on glacier or non-glacier snow work; actually. non-glacier snow work is much simpler. Excluding winter ascents, which are not for the inexperienced, such terrain is encountered either early in the season, before most of the snow has melted; or on the north sides of peaks, in shaded couloirs, and on other parts of mountains where snow has piled deep and has been protected from the sun. Such areas often provide snow and ice routes during the summer, long after the opportunities of early-season climbing have melted away, especially in years of heavy or late snowfall.
Routes involving snow and ice may be sought out for several reasons. You may want to gain experience on· snow and ice even though you must climb in ranges which have few or no glaciers. Perhaps you cannot avoid it, prefer it, or find it easier than the rock. There are many obvious differences from rock climbing, and some less apparent.
Changes in Surface
Snow and ice are extremely variable. The surface changes with temperatures, elevation, exposure, weather and season. It changes from year to year, from day to day, and even from hour to hour. For instance, a particular couloir in the early spring thaws may be an unthinkable avalanche of water, sloppy snow, and rock coming down from the walls above. Similar conditions may exist after an unseasonable storm. In early summer the same gully may present an excellently consolidated surface. Or on hot days the snow may be crumbly and unstable. On a cold morning it may be so hard that crampons are needed, but by afternoon glissading may be possible. A snow surface may change to ice at any step. There may be water-ice at the head of the couloir. By autumn, the gully may be almost dry or have melted down to old snow nearly as hard as ice. A new snowfall may mask conditions that exist just below the surface. Observation, calculation, and investigation will frequently be required before you decide on the route; sometimes you must choose a different route or give up the climb.
Similar changes in texture are constantly occurring on snowfields and slopes. A firm surface of consolidated summer snow is ideal to walk on – far easier than talus if there is a choice. If the snow is very hard or icy, you will need crampons. Snow that has alternately thawed and melted over a long period of time forms surface pits known as sun cups, separated by ridges. The sun cups often provide belay spots, and safe walking even on quite steep slopes. The pits become more pronounced as the season advances, and at times become so deep, with such high ridges between, that much energy is expended climbing from one to another.
A phenomenon that is of no importance in climbing, but is interesting since it is seldom seen by anyone but climbers, is red snow. This is the so-called “watermelon snow,” named from the color and odor that suddenly bloom in each footstep or give a reddish cast to an entire snowfield. This effect is caused by certain algae (the most common is Chlamydomonas nivalis) which live in the snow, and develop red pigment during their resting stage in late summer.
Soft, wet, poorly consolidated snow, usually found between early- and mid-season climbing, may hold your weight at one step, yet allow your foot to plunge in deeply at the next. At best this is exhausting, and at worst unspeakable! Your leg may become so heavily encased in snow that it will not come out of its hole, and has to be chopped free with your axe. Snow may also conceal the existence of lakes or streams under the surface. You can hear running streams, but there is no such warning of lakes in flat areas. You may suddenly find a foot many feet below the surface immersed in water. Try to get away from the lake or from the soft snow by changing course.
A similar situation arises when unbroken snow conceals rocks and talus which lie close to the surface with spaces melted around them. This is especially likely close to other rocks which protrude from the surface, and in the area where snow and talus meet. There is no sure way to avoid sinking down among the rocks when changing from talus to snow and vice versa, but the realization that this is apt to occur can prevent injury.
Melt Holes lind Moats
Another condition due to melt is the deep holes that form around rocks and the moats along the bases of cliffs. In these places, the snow either did not pack well in the first place, or melted faster than the rest of the snow because the darker object beside it absorbed more heat. The same effect, though of minor importance in climbing, is observed where rocks have fallen to the snow surface and have melted deep holes due to absorption rather than reflection of heat. Moats are a real danger, especially if covered Even if they are open, they may extend back under the snow much farther than is obvious, and sometimes are of formidable depth. To a degree, the solution is to give protruding rocks a wide berth. The moats along the bottom of cliffs may, however, be taken advantage of, as they sometimes provide easier and safer climbing than the snow itself.
Many changes in texture can be guessed at according to temperatures and general snow conditions. Others, such as sudden changes from snow to ice, can be determined by probing with the axe. Be constantly on the alert for altered conditions.
Avalanches, Rockfalls, and Cornices
Slopes that are likely to avalanche should of course not be climbed, and must be crossed with extreme caution; but you have to recognize an avalanche slope to avoid it. Masses of avalanching snow may suffocate, crush, or simply bury you without a trace. Snow avalanches are of course much more common in winter and spring than in the latter part of the summer, the normal climbing season. In general, avoid gullies and steep, unbroken slopes that are covered with deep new snow (whether it is wet, dry, or wind-packed), or by large amounts of wet melting snow. Extensive observation and experience should eventually provide a background knowledge of when and where slopes are stable enough to climb, and when and where they can be safely crossed. While gaining this knowledge, avoid couloirs that appear hazardous. Ridges often provide safe alternate routes.
Less obvious, and lasting perhaps through the climbing season, is the possibility of spontaneous rockfall. The danger especially exists on rock faces, or in snow and ice gullies that lie between rock faces, during periods of heavy melting. The evidence of rockfall can be easily seen in gullies of snow and ice. Rocks and dirt may lie on the snow surface, either in the couloir p oper or at its foot in a fan. Long vertical grooves in the snow are also evidence of either avalanche or rockfall. The evidence may be concealed by even a light snowfall, which at the same time may add to the danger. Some walls seem to discharge rocks at any time, others only when in the sun. The signs in the snow may tell you which part of the gully is safe to ascend and which part dangerous. A broad couloir is more apt to provide a safe route than is a narrow one.
Cornices are another feature that should be avoided altogether by climbers of limited experience, but should be recognized and understood. Cornices are formed during winter storms on the leeward crests of ridges, especially ridges that have one steep side and one gentle side. They are overhangs of snow shaped almost like ocean waves, gradually built up as winter winds blow snow over the steep drop from the gentle side of the crest. As an inexperienced climber you would presumably never be climbing beneath a cornice’s overhanging side, nor try to cut your way through it. But you very well might arrive on a nice broad snow ridge from the easy side, without realizing that the flat area is, in part, hanging unsupported over nothingness on the far side. By observing surrounding ridges, looking for a possible crack line, probing with your axe, and exercising caution, you can avoid getting out on the cornice beyond its probable line of fracture.
Temporary Snow and Ice Conditions
Conditions with which the climber must cope, even though they are not strictly snow and ice climbing, occur during or after sudden storms. The new snow tends to blow, melt, or fall off steep rocks, while lying inconveniently cold, wet, and slippery on hand holds and footholds. Snow which has melted and then frozen, or rain which has frozen, may coat rocks with thin, almost invisible, glassy ice called verglas. Snow, either fresh or melting, may cause avalanches and rockfall in gullies and troughs, or hide the nature of what lies beneath the surface. Such conditions must be dealt with by greatly increased safety measures both in use of equipment and in general attitude.
All the problems, conditions, techniques, safeguards, equipment, and clothing that pertain to snow and ice work are also applicable to glacier climbing – and then some! Superficial conditions are much the same for both, but some special conditions of vital importance to climbers are built right into glacier structure.
In simplified form, glaciers may be described as large masses of slowly moving ice that exist as permanent features of mountain architecture. They form and thrive in mountainous or other regions where weather, climate, exposure, elevation, and latitude combine, over long periods of time, to permit enormous accumulations of snow which become compressed into ice. This ice mass slowly moves downhill, melting at its lower margin and being renewed by fresh snow in its upper portions, with the seasons. The transition zone between snow and ice is called fim or ne ve.
The extent of glaciers varies enormously. One mountain may be mainly rock, with one small glacier and some snow chutes. Another may be covered almost completely by a vast network of glaciers, perhaps separated by rock ridges in their upper portions and flowing into each other in their lower portions. There are limitless combinations. The surface of a glacier may look like a snowfield. It may be large or small, rough or quite smooth, sparkling with fresh snow or so covered with gravel and dirt that it is hard to believe ice lies underneath. The ice itself is seen late in the year when the snow has melted, in tumbled icefalls or at glacier snouts, or in the deep fissures or crevasses that open in the surface of the slowly moving glacier.
The slow but mighty movement of glaciers produces the features that differ from plain snow and ice. Glacier action as affecting climbers may be considered either past and done with, or current and changing.
Past Effects of Glacier Motion
Eons of grinding glaciers (in present or long-ago locations) have, of course, had a monumental role in geological history. Glaciers have carved sheer cliffs, plucked out cirques, polished granite slabs, and deposited huge mounds of groundup, mixed-up rubble known as moraines, which make good or terrible walking according to shape, composition, and location. These and other effects can be taken for granted as the status quo in any one lifetime.
Contemporary Effects of Glacier Motion
Other results of glacier motion are continuous, current processes – some important, some merely of interest. One by-product of glaciers is the finely ground silt, or “glacier flour” discharged in the melt water. This silt gives the beautiful opaque colors to many high-mountain lakes, and the dense, milky (or dishwatery) appearance to streams originating in glaciers. A glacier river is difficult to ford because you cannot see the bottom. And climbers may think twice before drinking water so full of grit even though it is perfectly harmless, and most of the particles soon settle when the water stands in a cup or pot.
Crevasses ana Bergschrunds
For climbers the most vital thing about glaciers is the formation and endless change of crevasses and bergschrunds. As the ice moves over steep or uneven parts of its course, or is forced by the shape of its bed to change direction, splits and cracks form in the ice at or near the surface. These fissures may be narrow cracks or formidable dark caverns hundreds of feet deep. They have shining ice walls or reveal many layers of old ice and dirt. You may hear water running in them, or see enormous icicles festooning their walls. They are sometimes gapingly obvious, and at other times covered securely or insecurely with snow. They are most prevalent at manifestly steep, convex, or irregular sections of the flow. But who can see beneath a glacier’? A crevasse may be anywhere; and where there is one, there are often others roughly parallel to it. Where the glacier breaks away from the mountain at or near its upper end, above the neve, an enormous or series of crevasses forms; this is called the bergschrund. The ever present danger of falling into a crevasse is the main difference between ordinary snow and ice climbing, and glacier travel.
A climber new to glacier travel – even if he has mastered the fundamentals of snow and ice – should not venture upon a glacier without experienced companions. Build up judgment by paying close attention to your changing and complex environment in the company of knowledgeable climbers. Learn how to plan glacier routes from a distance and close up. to avoid heavily crevassed areas. Heed details of technique that make you a safe member of the party. and take full advantage of the formal or informal instruction offered on your early glacier climbs.
When you have gained experience with such groups, and begin to go out on your own, start with routes reasonably familiar, or at least of known difficulty. Forego obvious and unnecessary complications such as icefalls and unknown routes on unfamiliar peaks, until you have well-founded confidence in your capabilities developed on better-known routes. And always practice established safety measures for glacier travel.
Glacier travel is too varied and complicated for a list of arbitrary “rules,” but necessary precautions that will greatly increase the likelihood of your staying (or getting) out of crevasses can be given as a guide.
(1) Wear adequate clothing. Surface temperatures may be summery, but it is always wintertime inside crevasses.
(2) Always rope on glaciers, even on an easy or flat slope. Crevasses can and do exist on flat portions of glaciers, or in sections where they have been previously unknown.
(3) Three on a rope is the preferred number for glacier travel. Two or more ropes traveling together are safer than one.
(4) Always wear the wrist loop of your ice axe; you must not lose it.
(5) Before setting off across a glacier, attach three prusik slings to the rope and stow them in pockets or otherwise out of the way. The middle man should put one of the slings on the rope going to the man behind him. He might be held on either rope, and need a loop to stand in while adjusting the others.
(6) Tie a small loop in the rope a few feet from the waist loop (to anchor a fallen climber with the axe through the loop).
(7) Where ease of climbing permits, travel continuously, the rope fully extended between climbers, and each member of the rope prepared to give a belay instantly if one person falls into a crevasse.
(8) You are not apt to fall into a wide-open crevasse. The danger lies in those hidden beneath a snow surface too weak to bear your weight, especially likely on the névé. Such spots can sometimes be detected by a long trough of slightly depressed snow, or other textural changes. Each climber should probe the snow surface with his axe; it goes in more readily and deeply if a thin layer of snow over a hole has been reached. When you find one crevasse, suspect others nearby. If possible, walk at right angles to suspected crevasses, and avoid having the entire party over the same crevasse (surprise!).
(9) If a crevasse fall occurs in continuous climbing, throwing yourself into a self-arrest is probably the best way to hold it. Change to consecutive climbing with careful belays when the climbing becomes difficult or any but the most minor crevasse crossing is contemplated.
All crevasses deserve careful inspection, partly for reasons of their sheer sensational interest, but especially with a view to getting safely to the other side. Consider how serious a fall would be, and how difficult it would be to get out. Some are narrow and shallow, but have slick walls that converge so you could be wedged in tightly. Some are water-filled. Some are so full of snow that a landing might be soft and harmless, but you could fall right through the snow you see. There may be broad ledges near the top, or black depths the eye cannot measure. Some have gentle walls that appear easily climbable; others may be undercut in a “bell” shape that is especially difficult to surmount.
Many crossings can (or must) be avoided, either by laying out a route that bypasses crevasses altogether or makes detours around the ends. A crevasse that is partly or largely snow-covered requires particularly close inspection, as the ends or edges may be unstable. “Bridges” of snow sometimes present the shortest or perhaps the only way to get across but must be inspected carefully from every angle for thickness, stability, and surface cracks that might indicate weakness. When the crossing is to be attempted, set up sound belay spots well away from the edge. The leader should step with care, and test with his axe. On the far side, he should make sure he is well beyond the first crevasse but has not encountered another before setting up his belay. The second and subsequent persons should step gently in the leader’s steps (unless he made a hole), and they too hould probe. A bridge frozen solid in the morning may be ready to collapse by the return in the afternoon.
Bergschrunas present similar problems, but may be more trouble than other crevasse crossings, in part because they often cannot be avoided. Bergschrunds are often easy to cross early in the season when covered or clogged with snow, especially at one end or the other. Or they may present almost insuperable difficulties late in the season, when the chasm is so pronounced that there is no choice but to climb down into it and out again. Such a maneuver may be unusually difficult because of a much higher, overhanging upper lip. It is sometimes the better part of valor to give up the peak rather than make the bergschrund crossing twice. If you do get across, take special pains not to fall into it from the steep slopes above.
With care (and luck), you have a good chance of never faIling into a crevasse at all (few climbers do). If you do fall in, however, the results may vary from trivial to fatal. Some knowledge of how to get out and how to help a fellow climber emerge, greatly enhances the likelihood of survival.
Self-Rescue, Aided by Team
Self-rescue presupposes that you are uninjured or only slightly hurt. It does not imply that your teammates contribute no help. At the very least, a belay gives moral support. It may supply the physical assistance without which selfrescue would be impossible. After falling, assess your position and inform those above. Make sure they have a chance to set up a good belay before you move. If you are on snow or can be lowered to a ledge or snow, move with care to prevent falling further. If you are not wearing all the warm clothing you have with you, put it on at once. You may find an easy exit up outward-sloping walls, or walls close enough together for chimneying. You may have to prusik up the rope. If you are dangling in space, get your weight off the waist loop as soon as yo can. Pass one of the pre-arranged prusik slings around the back of one leg and over the foot. Stand in this loop, arrange the remaining prusiks, and ascend quickly before the cold and strain sap your strength.
Team members above should safeguard themselves and each other from falling into the same or other crevasses. They should analyze the terrain, work from the lower lip on steep slopes, and avoid knocking snow or gear onto the victim. The rope will cut back into an overhanging lip of snow; the cutting can be minimized by placing rolled-up clothing or a well-anchored ice axe between the rope and the snow.
A rescue method which is similar, but faster and less strenuous, is the Bilgiri. Its use depends on having an extra rope or an end long enough to serve as an extra rope, with enough people to handle two ropes from above. The second rope is lowered with a loop tied in the end for a footstep. Pass this loop down through your waist loop. Stand in it. Adjust a prusik on your own climbing rope for your other foot, and another to go around your chest. While your weight is on one of the ropes, the climbers above pull up the other a short distance. Transfer your weight to the upper loop. Repeat.
Tesm Rescue
Injury sustained in a crevasse fall is a very serious matter. The victim may be virtually inaccessible, and is in a bitterly cold place. This is the circumstance where a life may depend on an adequately large party, with at least one member who understands pulley setups for climbing rescues. Without such resources and methods, the injured man can seldom be just pulled out. An inexperienced rope of two or three has little choice but to assess the situation, try to prevent additional injury. and go or send at once for outside help.
If a climbing companion disappears into a crevasse, do not panic; you cannot help by joining him. If there are two or more climbers above, it is reasonably easy to divide up the belaying. investigating, anchoring. etc. If you are alone, and the man cannot get out or even communicate with you, you are in real trouble. However. you have to free yourself or eventually fall in too. If at all possible, secure the fallen man with an anchor. One method is to drive an axe deep into the snow through the loop previously placed in your rope. Another method is to attach a sling to the climbing rope with a prusik, and drop it over the axe. You should anchor the victim, whether or not he is hanging free on the rope; but of course it is easier if he has come to rest. If his weight is on the rope and you cannot anchor him without slipping, let him down slowly in the hope that he will land on a ledge or snow bank. (In the really unlikely but terrible circumstance of his still dangling unanchored when all the rope is out, with no one to help, there is probably no choice but for you to try to cut the rope, or fall in too – probably forever.)
When you are free to do so, inspect the accident site. If you can do it safely, enter the crevasse by climbing, rappelling, or prusiking down to one side of the victim (to avoid knocking snow on him). Take what equipment you have, including an axe if available. Examine the injured person, give first aid, dress and pad him in all available clothing. If he is not well secured above, anchor him to his axe, an ice piton, or a bollard chopped in the ice. Even his crampons might be used; they should be removed anyway to keep his feet warmer.
Going for Outside Help
If either an injured or uninjured person is in a crevasse and cannot be extricated, someone must go for help. If it was a two-man rope, you must go alone and should have an ice axe. Mark the accident site as clearly as you can for either ground or air search, by laying expendable equipment and clothing out in a conspicuous pattern that won’t look like rocks. If there are two free to move and the terrain is feasible for solo climbing, one person should stay with a victim who is still alive. Fix the general location in mind by landmarks, and compass readings if possible, to avoid needless delays in rescue. If you are very lucky, there may be another climbing team nearby to give assistance. You may have to go clear to a ranger station or sheriffs office, where officials will summon a rescue team. It is important that you speed the rescue by directing them as clearly as possible to the site of the accident, and giving complete information as to what they will probably find.
Crevasses are the most characteristic hazard of glacier climbing. Several other problems, which are encountered elsewhere, are intensified on glaciers. The most important of these are coping with bad weather and keeping track of the route for a safe return. They are interrelated.
Weather is frequently unstable in the mountains, especially so in glacier regions. The large snow and ice masses attract and create storms. Glaciers provide very little chance of shelter in a storm. Visibility can become extremely poor on large snow surfaces devoid of landmarks. To lessen the chance of being caught in a storm , familiarize yourself with the probable weather in particular areas. Heed forecasts, and don’t let wishful thinking obliterate good sense if storms are predicted for your chosen climbing day. Turn back when good or borderline weather turns bad. Just in case, wear adequate clothing, and have extra garments that are warm and dry in the pack, including socks. If a storm hits, put your extra clothes on before you get chilled. Unless your feet are really wet, the change of socks can be deferred for a possible night out.
In a snow storm or just a thick fog on glaciers, visibility can quickly drop to nil. A snow expanse in a dense fog exudes a sort of dancing emptiness in which it may be difficult to tell up from down, let alone see your way. It is a wise climber who has made provisions to find his way back.
On glaciers it is frequently important to return exactly the way you came. This may be because of dangers, difficulties, or length of alternate routes; because of crevasses to be avoided or crossed ; or because a key spot for leaving the glacier is more easily spotted from below than above. Large white expanses minus landmarks are confusing at best, and can seem hopeless in storm, fog, or darkness. Hence precautionary measures should be taken to help retrace your footsteps.
Literally speaking, this may not be possible. Footsteps and axe holes may remain plain for days; they may never show at all if the surface is icy or pocked with irregularities that uncannily resemble footprints, or they may start out deep and unmistakable, yet disappear shortly in sun or wind.
As in all climbing, all members of the party should habitually observe landmarks, both close and far away, and behind as well as ahead. A compass is valuable if you take an occasional bearing on a landmark. You will at least know the general direction you should take on the return (climbers have become so confused that they came down the opposite sides of peaks) . Knowing the direction in which you want to go, you can follow an approximate compass bearing without landmarks by lining it up with two climbers ahead.
A more specific way to mark a route is with “willow wands,” cut from bushes, or more usually made in advance from three-foot bamboo garden stakes topped with small red or orange fluorescent banners. The sight of an occasional wand on a featureless route is reassuring. In especially obscure or vital portions of the route, the wands should be stuck into the snow a rope length apart, so when one is located the party can be sure of finding another. Major turns or crevasses can be identified by sticking two wands in the snow. And so, it is hoped, a successful return is made from a successful climb.
Snow, ice, and glacier climbs with experienced companions enable you to build up increasing knowledge, through participation and observation, until you can assume responsibility for yourself and others. Long before this stage – and long after – you will be enjoying complete mountain ascents.