Hi! I'm Ali from Fit Climb and today we're in the North Cascades. It's South Early Winter Spire, we're about to climb that right up through the gully, and then to the right. It's going to be a mix snow and rock climb.
For a climb like this, it's good to use good cramponing techniques. We're going to use crampons in snow. It's nice and hard, because it's early. There are several different ways you can climb in crampons. One, if the snow is soft, you can kick-step in. Using your ice axe you want to have at least two points of contact at all time. So, I place my ice axe, step, kick, lift, place, step and so on. That's going straight up. I make sure the teeth of my crampons catch the snow.
Another technique is to step sideways. When I'm going up sideways, again, same thing, place the ice axe, step and step. Make sure all the teeth of the crampons catch the snow. I'm almost parallel or perpendicular to the snow. When you're going down, you want to go, either heel first if the snow is really soft, again, notice when I place my ice axe on each step or if it's fairly icy, I can also pigeon-toe up. Sometimes, if it's really steep I like to have my ice axe in front, and then pigeon-toe up, and you can also pigeon-toe down.
If you are on an established trail, just walk as you normally would. Crampons are important in icy conditions. Make sure you put them on before you anticipate it be an icy, especially early in a morning. Before you leave for your trip, practice putting on your crampons; not putting on crampons correctly is one of the most common beginner mistakes. It causes a team to have to stop frequently. I suggest doing this at night in the dark, at home.
If snow starts to ball up on your crampons you can bang it away with your ice axe, or perhaps, it's time to take them off. You can find more information on FitClimb.com.
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