Just wondering how many have read this article on snow pickets:

http://www.mountainz.co.nz/content/arti ... nchors.pdf

So the findings more or less were:
In most cases upright midclips are as good as a t-slot with a fraction of the work. Does this get anybody to dig less t-slots? Why or why not?

I'd like to try this but I'm not wild about permanently swagging 4mm cable to my pickets. I think I'm going to go with 3/16 "Amsteel Blue" spectra which should give me similar strength even with the knot. Thoughts?

Did they recommend 4mm cable? That seems pretty big.. I'm not sure what size Yates uses on their L pickets, but it's not 4mm.

The point of the cable is that it doesn't lose any strength attached directly to the picket (slings/cord lose a lot of strength when hirth-hitched to the holes), and it very easily cuts through the snow without disturbing it nearly as much as sling/cord does. I wouldn't bother a mid-clip vertical placement with a bigass carabiner and chunk of webbing sticking off em... and if the reduction in strength is acceptable, then why not just use the easier and faster top-clip/hitch?

Just my thoughts on the cable question

Thanks for the reply ben.

The article specifically references the 4mm cable used in the picket by "Aspiring Enterprises" which I think is this one here:
http://www.aspiring.co.nz/tramping-snow.aspx

It gives the cable of a rating around 11kN which seems to be in line with the 2500 lb tensile strength of the wire I can find on the web. I can’t imagine the Yates model is much less unless the wire is something else other than steel.
That said, I figured the 5000 lb 3/16 spectra would be more than enough of a replacement, plus I wouldn’t have to permanently swage the cable onto the picket. I’m hoping the similar width would give me about as much snow cutting ability but I’d even consider carrying a snow saw over digging t-slots. I’d probably attach the rope with a follow thru figure 8. I think a girth hitch might twist the picket if it didn’t stay square as it was pounded in.

Note that I’m comparing the upright mid-clip to a t-slot, not to a top clip. The study led one to believe that a top-clip is inferior by HALF to a mid-clip. The only nod it gave to the top clip was when the snow is so hard (nearly ice) that trenching for a t-slot or mid-clip is not possible.
Crack open the article – it’s worth looking at just to see the pile of mangled pickets they tested with .

Gotcha... missed the cord part. I'm totally unfamiliar with Amsteel, and didn't realize something that small was available that strong. Since I don't know anything about it, I can't comment on it with any authority.. but I'd think the knot (as you mention) and the hitch itself would be pretty big weak spots, with any kind of synthetic material.

The stuff they can do with sythetic materials these days is amazing:
http://www.samsonrope.com/index.cfm?rope=192

I think we'd all be using this stuff more but it's double to triple the price of cord and webbing so I'm only considering it here for a wire replacement. With a figure 8 I should be able to count on 60 to 70% of the original strength. That still puts me well over the 10kN mark which is approaching all I can count on from the anchor anyway.

Thank you for your feedback so far.