Snow wands in the whites

[giggy]

I have never seen any of these being used up there- It might be overkill, but would be nice to have as an additional safety device.

I would think as long as you retrieve them - it shouldn't be problem. I don't care if anyone laughs at me - I am going home after the trip!!

Its something I always think about when I am up there - but never bought any or anything. It would be nice way to mark your way back to treeline.

Anyone ever use them or seen them used in the whites?

 

[Paul_Bear]

We used some on Rainier, but I've never seen them in the Whites. I think in general that there are enough terrain features in the Whites that you can keep yourself oriented without wands.

 

[Reekee]

I have a friend, a Denali summiteer, that was kicking himself for not bring his wands up Marcy as it was a whiteout and we needed them. We made one out of a long stick and used it on an open area above tree line. It came in handy on the descent. I have seen others with wands in the high peaks and laughing never crossed my mind.

 

[dug]

I guess they would provide some assistance in a white out, but how close would you have to put them together? Closer than cairns? I've thought about it, but I do agree that the terrain and familiarity with it is important in the Northeast, as there aren't many snowfields without geographic identifiable characteristics.

Interesting.

 

[giggy]

yea - not needed on the major trialls for sure where cairns of big enough , tucks, lion head, , etc..- but couple of places I was thinking recently were gulfside between admas and edmunds col, adams 4 and t-junction. and the place where randolph desecnds into the scrub off edmunds col. In nice weather - totally overkill. In bad weather - The compass will get you in general direction, but when visablity goes, they might be good to have to mark where to go. Probably more appropriate in the northern pressies ridges, I might make some next time i go out.

 

[Reekee]

Cairns

Surely you're not suggesting that snow totals can't cover three foot cairns. On Gray Mt. I dug down 4 feet to find an 8 foot summit sign.

 

[giggy]

No - not suggested that at all sorry if that was implied - they sure can get covered. I actually haven't done washington in the winter in about 2 or 3 years now - I thought the cairns were pretty obvious until the actual summit cone - and I belive most of the snow usually gets blown off - The one on gulfside descobed above are already mostly covered. But this adds to the use of the "wands"...

 

[sierra]

wands

I have never used wands in the Whites, except once soloing on the Presis. I was breaking trail as I had not found the real trail and when I broke out of the scrub, I ground was hardpacked as heck, I walked a few feet and looked back realizing I would proboly not see the way I came out of the scrub on the descent. This concerned me, because it took a long time to break my trail in the deep snow in the woods and I didnt want to break trail again on the descent due to the time involved. I came up with the next best thing and left my trekking poles where my exit from the woods was. It was very low visabilty, but on my descent I found my poles and my trail, which was a joy to descend, I doubt I would have found my exit had I not left a marker of some kind.

 

[jade]

I have a couple of tiaras but I'm not familiar with a wand.....obviously something to mark the trail in whiteout conditions

 

[giggy]

yes - basically - I think officially they are bamboo wands - but they can be anything really. They are to mark the trail in whiteout ot any conditions where you might need them to get back.

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Hey, great thread! Yes, I also have seen wands occasionally at the top of Lions Head and on the Alpine Garden above the ice routes in Huntington Ravine. Also, many years ago on winter trips to Katahdin we carried and used them above tree line. And, last winter I was certainly wishing that I had them with me to re-locate the Carriage Road from the summit of Moosilauke in a white out; even with a map and compass, I spent an extra half hour braketing until I found the route. The important thing is to remove wands on your way down, same as flagging, as both are littering if left behind, IMHO.

 

[spider solo]

I have carried them a few times in the Whites for practice and what not.
I would say the main problem was breaking them before I had a chance to use them or, upon returning, getting them tangled up with tree branches etc.
One other thing I learned was that if I used "flagging" in the wands it would shatter in very cold temps.
The next time I make some up I would use strips of cloth for the flagging instead of the plastic type surveyor tape.
This past spring I found about a dozen or so wands...some broken...along the Lions head trail. I gathered them up no problem.
Some people get all bent out of shape about flagging and probably using wands...some of them getting lost or broken, but it doesn't bother me to clean up the occasional ones that I find .
If concerned about losing them I have occcasionally put the date on them to help eliminate any confusion as to whether they are "lost" or not.
When up north (Quebec) I notice that the date is written opposite than we do... with the month and day reversed so I try to keep that in mind.