CURRENT recommendations for winter mountaineering course?

[retired jerry]

how did you know there was no avalanche risk?

[Bosterson]

There's a lot more to it than that. There's been more than enough times going up volcanoes that if you didn't have AT ski setup so you can skin or snowshoes, you'd be post-holding through fresh snow and terribly inefficient. Doesn't have any bearing about it being an avalanche slope. Fresh powder can be soft and unconsolidated for a while without inherently having avalanche risk be at hand.

I wasn't trying to give an avalanche seminar! Just noting that if you're not experienced with snow and heading into steep terrain (ie, not Maiden Peak) with serious powder, then it's probably safer to turn around than to ask whether snowshoes would be useful. This thread is about basic winter questions, and he'd asked whether snowshoes can ever be used outside of the forest; as opposed to a walkup like Diamond Peak, I was jesting about not trying to plow up the Old Chute in a few feet of fresh powder on snowshoes. Certainly, if he wants a serious discussion of how to assess avi terrain, I will defer to your greater experience with that subject - I was just trying to say that yes, you can use snowshoes to walk up snow hills.

Back to Scott - re: clunky boots, modern lightweight mountaineering boots are very nimble compared to boots of yore. If you don't need a ton of warmth, you can get a semi-auto crampon compatible boot that's only moderately stiff for < 3 lbs/pair. (My Salewa Rapaces are maybe 2.75 lbs.) Again, go to a shop and try some stuff on. You can also get a lighter/less stiff "hiking" boot and use strap on crampons, especially if you don't expect to go up anything very steep.

[retired jerry]

Thanks to the google

https://www.mtavalanche.com/sites/defau ... _Final.pdf

avalanches occur on slopes between 30 and 50 degrees. Sometimes there'll be an avalanche on a lower slope if there's a 30 to 50 degree slope below it that avalanches, that then causes the slope above to also avalanche even though it's less than 30 degrees.

you also need "a slab, a weak layer, and a trigger"