Reply #62: Winter climbing is safer.

[Xithras]

It's much safer to cross a rock hard frozen snowfield than a wet mushy one. Ice axes and crampons work much better when the snow is solid enough to hold them.

Still, I never climbed in December. I always preferred March-April for the high altitude stuff...the weather was still cold enough to keep the snow hard, but warmed up enough to reduce the chances of freezing blizzards.

I got called a wuss for that more than once by guys who swore that climbing in the darkest depths of winter was the better way to go. One of them is dead today, and another lost his hand and one foot to frostbite. I've never been stuck on a mountain in a serious storm in my life, so I must have done something right. Oh yeah, I checked the weather before leaving too!

The big issue with a lot of these guys is a refusal to accept that we're out there on natures terms. These guys plan these climbs for weeks and sometimes months in advance, and when a storm rolls in at the last minute they're not willing to scrub the climb and admit they wasted their time planning. They think "I can get up and down before the storm hits", or "If I have to dig in, it just means I'm spending a night in a snow cave". By the time reality sets in, they're 10,000 feet up in -40F temperatures with 90MPH winds gusting to 140. That's the point when they realize that all that wonderful rock hard climbing snow makes a really freaking lousy snow cave.