The One Axe Difference on Snowy Terrain

(This post may contain affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, I’ll receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support the channel and allows us to continue to make videos like this. Thank you for the support!)

Members of a climbing team need to have a lot in common: general fitness, speed, risk tolerance, preference in objectives, etc. But they also need to be different. Some members will be a bit faster. Some will be able to carry more weight. Some will be more secure at technical climbing. Some will be able to assess conditions and apply systems to meet those demands.

A team is a sum of its parts, filling gaps between skill sets held strongly by one member and maybe not so strongly by another. I believe we would have a weaker team if all the members more or less shared the same abilities, skills, proclivities, and personalities.

Yes, personalities, as well. The serious one, earnest and focused when things get hard. The funny one, who brings levity to tense situations.

Maybe these are simple caricatures, but you get the idea. Diversity in skills, perceptions, and approaches add in a wider view of the risks of a climb and therefore increase the likelihood that we perceive risks that we might otherwise miss. And having differing approaches, as long as we can align on one as a team, allows for a broader set of considered techniques or procedures to mitigate the risks we face.

And so it is with the demands of this entire procedure presented in this video. This technique (and the variations on it) doesn’t work if we don’t have a highly competent lead climber who is willing to climb the terrain with little to no lead protection in place. Generally, that isn’t too large an ask on moderate snow terrain. After all, if things get too steep and falls too likely, a different technique such as regular, pitched climbing, makes the most sense. And snow if often moderate, as truly steep snow is climbed more like ice, and low-angle snow doesn’t pose much fall risk.

That being said, we still need the competent, confident, and comfortable (with the terrain) leader. And with that leader, we need other team members with other skills and abilities to round out the team.