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Snow Anchors For Belaying and Rescue: 2010 International Snow Science Workshop
Snow Anchors For Belaying and Rescue: 2010 International Snow Science Workshop
ABSTRACT: The ability to build a snow anchor and know that it will hold the likely load is an important skill
for people working and recreating in snow.
A series of tests carried out in New Zealand by D. Bogie from the Department of Conservation and in
California by A. Fortini from the Sierra Madre Search and Rescue Team has shown how strong snow
anchors can be, has provided information on why they behave that way, and has shown a number of
limitations in the use of both purpose made and improvised snow anchors.
The strength of a snow anchor is dependant on a combination of factors, including: the snows strength in
compression and shear; the strength, size and stiffness of the buried object; the angle of placement of the
object; the location of attachment to the object and the depth of the bottom of the buried object.
Anyone building a snow anchor needs to be aware of the factors that effect snow strength, be aware of
the likely loads for the situation, and know a variety of techniques that will cope with the combinations of
snow and loads. The three key things to do when ever possible are to increase snow strength, get
anchors deep, and pull from the middle of the buried object. Skis despite their large surface areas make
particularly weak anchors if used incorrectly. Two simple tests have been developed to help people with
their decisions when building snow anchors: the snowball test and the finger test.
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climbing makes it unlikely that one would receive of the attachment systems. Slings or wire strops
the maximum sized fall factor 2 loads. They are fail usually in the range of 8 kN to 15 kN. There
mainly used for belaying on moderate angled were a large number of cases of snow stakes
slopes, belaying over crevasses and abseil bending and either folding and being dragged out
anchors. Loads are likely to be in the range of 2 kN of the snow or the attachment pulling out through
to 8 kN. the stake. Testing in a workshop showed that in
order for the attachment to pull out through the
If a snow anchor is being used to safeguard stake at the loads being applied, the stake had to
someone from an avalanche releasing then the bend first. In order for a stake to bend there has to
load the avalanche is likely to put on someone be a compression failure of the snow in front of the
needs taking into account. For large events forces stake. Failures of this sort occurred in a range of 7
will be higher than snow anchors can stand but kN to 16 kN
most climbing avalanche accidents typically occur
when the climbers set off an avalanche In compression failure the anchor pulls forward
themselves. These avalanches are usually not through the snow. Under a steady load this can be
particularly large and the climbers are normally a fairly slow movement. The compression strength
high in the start zone. If someone is less than a of a snow anchor is dependent on the
rope length from the top of where an avalanche compression strength of the snow, the size of the
started the range of loads is likely to be between 2 buried object, the stiffness of the buried object and
kN and 13 kN. whether the load is evenly spread over the buried
object. Failures can either be in a straight line or
For snow safety workers using static cord as a can be accompanied by rotation of the stake.
safety line while being belayed in start zones the Compression failures occurred in the range of < 1
loads will be similar provided there is no slack in kN to around 9 kN
their ropes otherwise loads will be far higher than
shown. In a shear failure, a stress cone in the snow is
14 formed around the buried object. It has been
12
observed to go out from the sides of the object at
o
approximately 45 and up from the bottom of it at
approximately 30o. Fortini (2002).
10
8
kN
w
4
d 45o
2
θ Side View φ
30o Top View
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 Figure 2: The stress cone. The surface that comes
Distance M
up at 30o is the area of shear. The two surfaces
Figure 1: The likely forces on a person held by a that go out from the anchor at 45o are the tension
rope in an avalanche. The distance in metres is zones.
the distance from the crown wall. This example is
for a 40 cm slab on a 45o slope. It assumes that When it fails it does so fast and the snow cone and
the person is in the flowing debris rather than on anchor come out of the snow in an explosive
the surface of the slab, that the person has a manner. The strength of the snow anchor is
surface area of 0.4 m2 and that the debris density dependent on the shear strength of the snow on its
starts at 350 kg m2 then drops to 200 kg m2 as it shear plane and the strength of the snow in
accelerates. tension on its tension surfaces. The size of the
stress cone is a lot larger than the buried object. It
4. SNOW ANCHOR FAILURE can be over 50 times the size of the buried object
depending on its depth and width. The size of the
Observations of 250 snow anchor failures by the stress cone can be calculated by working out the
authors shows that failures occur in four main surface area of the three surfaces that make it up
ways. The equipment fails or the snow fails either by using the following formula.
in shear or the snow fails in compression or there Wd d 2 tan φ d2
As = + + [1]
sin θ [tan θ sin θ ] [cos φ tan θ ]
is a combination of snow failure and equipment
failure. The “pure” equipment failures are failures
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2010 International Snow Science Workshop
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2010 International Snow Science Workshop
We can in some circumstances increase the important for determining the structural strength of
strength of the snow and therefore the strength of the anchor material when under load. In very
a snow anchor by compacting the snow that we strong snow when an anchor is pulled from a mid
build the anchor in. The useful strength of this clip the strength of the stake is not a major issue
compacted snow depends on the speed of as it is supported by the strength of the snow and
bonding. In moist snow this is very rapid. In wet the weakest link becomes the strength of the
snow some initial bonding usually occurs but bond attachment system. In weaker snow the snow
strength will deteriorate quickly so a snow anchor does not give this support, so stakes that do not
in wet snow is likely to get weaker the longer it is have sufficient stiffness will bend and pull out
used. In colder snow < -5o bonding is slow and through the snow. This has been observed at
may not occur fast enough to be of any assistance loads of around 7 kN with standard sized stakes.
in making an anchor stronger.
In hard snow where a top clip is being used stakes
The best test of whether compacting snow will failing pulled forward under load as the anchor
make the anchor stronger is to make a snowball. If bent and the snow failed in front of the upper third
squeezing hard will make a solid snowball then of the stake. Testing in knife hardness snow
you will create strong snow and strong anchors. If showed that the stronger the material used in a
the snow crumbles, which occurs with cold snow, it snow stake the higher the load it could handle.
is unlikely to produce stronger snow and may in With the weaker materials and the narrower 5 cm
fact destroy existing bonds and make the snow wide stakes the failure was in compression. With
weaker. If water drips from a snowball then the strong wider stakes (7 cm to 10 cm) some
compacting the snow may give it higher density shear failures were observed. In order for either of
but bonds are likely to be weak and they may these to happen the upper part of the snowstake
break down rapidly. has to bend as its lower half is under very little
load and is held firmly in the hard snow.
5. SNOW ANCHOR MATERIALS AND SIZES
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longer than 60 cm will not make much difference to One of the most critical things that effects snow
hard snow top clips unless they are made from anchor performance is where you pull from. An
materials that are strong enough to offset the upright top clip is in engineering terms a laterally
effect of higher leverage on them. With mid clip loaded pile. In the Foundation Engineering
stakes in less than 50 cm the stress cone size Handbook, Winterkorn (1975) it says the following
starts to get into a range where shear failures start about laterally loaded piles. “Piles are rather
to become more likely at lower loads. slender structural elements, usually vertically
inclined, and therefore cannot carry high loads
Holes are often drilled into snow stakes in order to which act perpendicularly to their axis.” If we look
provide attachment points, to lighten them and at how the load is spread in the snow for an
some people advocate it to provide grip. Holes can upright top clip in figure 6 then we see that the
structurally weaken a stake so care needs to be majority of the load will be on the snow in the
taken in order to not affect its structural strength. upper third of the stake. The actual cross over
Any holes placed for grip or lightening purposes point from one side to the other will be dependent
may in fact reduce a stakes holding power in on the stiffness of the stake and the hardness of
compression as they potentially reduce the area of the snow. The stronger they are the further down it
snow being compressed. will be, which will increase the anchor strength as
the load is spread over more surface area.
In order to understand how the stakes were
behaving in the snow and to look at the differences
between stake materials and stake orientations a
series of workshop tests were carried out. This
involved pulling on the centre of a stake while the
stake was held in place by wire loops half way
between the centre and the outside edge. This
gave a reasonable representation of a mid clip
supported by snow. The stronger combinations of
shape with the stronger aluminum alloys failed Figure 7: Upright mid clip.
suddenly at loads over 8 kN. The weaker materials
and orientations bent slowly prior to the If you pull from the center the load is more evenly
attachment pulling out. A minimum strength in this spread. If the stake is strong enough it will be
test of 8 kN before any bending occurs is even, but if it flexes then there will be higher
recommended for purpose made snow anchors. In pressure in the center. Pressure on the snow with
weak snow the snow will fail before this force is a standard sized stake being pulled from the
reached. In strong snow the snow helps support middle with a load of 6 kN is around 150 kPa
the anchor so anchor strengths greater than 10 kN which is within the range of pencil hardness snow.
can be achieved with stakes that meet this
requirement. During testing in knife hardness snow, some
upright top clips were observed to start failing in
6. PLACEMENT OF SNOW ANCHORS compression at 6 kN. As knife hardness snow has
a strength in compression of at least 1000 kPa this
Snow anchors can be placed in several different meant that a pressure of greater than 1000 kPa
modes, as up right stakes, with attachments at the must have been applied to the snow in its upper
top (top clips) or in the middle (mid clips) that can third in order for this to happen. This is at least six
be tilted back at different angles. They can also be times the pressure the same load would be
placed horizontally with attachments in the middle. applying if pulled from the middle.
(T slots)
In knife hard snow conditions (stake needs to be
hammered in) top clip anchors gave results for
standard stakes in the range of 6 kN to 12 kN.
Variations of around 4 kN occurred at times with
the same sized stakes in close proximity. The
differences appeared to be caused by minor
variations in the hardness of the snow that were
not detectable by the person placing the stake. As
a general rule it would tend to indicate that if an
Figure 6: Upright top clip.
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anchor can be placed as a mid clip it should be, as • If α > 90o it produces a downwards
that gives more certainty of a strong anchor than a component.
top clip does. This can be done in most hard snow If a stake is leant back 15o from perpendicular to
by cutting a thin slot (< 5 mm wide) with an ice axe the snow surface with a stake in at its full length
pick or snow saw if you are using a stake that has and an attachment coming out of the snow at twice
a wire strop. Even if 10 cm or so of the stake is left the length of the stake (AL = 2L) it will form a right
sticking out of the snow it still gives a far stronger angle where the attachment meets the stake.
anchor than top clips in the same snow. Lifting up or pulling in line with the attachment will
both cause the anchor to fail at relatively low
The angle a stake is placed in the snow has a loads. If the anchor pulls in line with the
different effect depending on snow strength. What attachment the top of the anchor comes out of the
increases strength in strong snow has the opposite snow and reduces the surface area of snow in the
effect in weak snow. upper half of the stake, which causes it to rotate
45o 0o
forward and fail. Tilting the stake back to make
angle β, 45o makes the stake dive down into the
snow. Under load they have been observed to
travel down slope by several metres and go down
D
into the snow by more than a metre.
Figure 8: The effect of stake angle on the area of
the stress cone (As). As the angle of a stake is Placing mid clip stakes back at 45o in weak snow
tilted back the depth of its bottom end decreases. to encourage diving is not recommended as they
The difference in depth (D) means that the size of can hit harder layers, lay back more then get
As is significantly reduced. pulled out at relatively low loads.
The depth of the bottom of the upright mid clip has If alpha is at 100o between stake and attachment,
a major effect on the size of a stress cone in Braun-Elwert, (2005) this should prevent lifting,
stronger snow. The size of the stress cone minimise excessive diving and would also keep the
decreases the further a stake is leaned back. This total depth of the anchor nearly the same as if it
would weaken the anchor in strong snow. Having a were in vertically which maximises the potential
stake as upright as possible in strong snow size of the stress cone. This angle can be
increases its strength but in weak snow an upright achieved by leaning the stake back by 25o from
stake will pop up and out of the snow at low loads. perpendicular to the surface where the attachment
wire or sling is twice the length of the stake, and
0o both the end of the attachment and top of the
β stake are just at snow surface level. (ref figure 9)
Further snow can then be compacted on top of it to
AL = 2L get it deeper which makes for a stronger anchor.
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2010 International Snow Science Workshop
Figure 10: This series of photos of an upright mid 9. USING SKIS AS ANCHORS
clip in at 10o back from perpendicular to the snow
surface shows it lifting from the snow at around 3 Although skis have larger surface areas than most
kN. A similar sized stake set back 45o pulled down of the stakes tested they did not have far higher
into the snow and failed at around 7 kN when the values. As the load comes on a ski they flex
stake folded in the middle and the wire cable putting higher pressures on the snow near the
pulled out of it. The snow was cold <-10o C and attachment point. In strong snow used as a mid
between pencil and 1 finger in hardness. It was not clip this is not a significant issue.
possible to compress it to make stronger snow.
With top clips this flexibility is a major issue. All of
7. MULTIPLE ANCHORS the different combinations of skis used as top clips
were weak. This is because the flexing of the skis
When there is a need to produce a stronger puts very high loads on the surface snow. The use
anchor than can be built with a single piece of of skis as top clips is not recommended in any
equipment a multiple point anchor can be built. If hardness snow because of this feature. Three top
the pieces of equipment are put in close to each clip ski tests produced very low values in the range
other then an issue occurs with overlapping stress of 2.2 to 2.9 kN in snow towards the top of pencil
cones. Although combining two tools produces a hardness range. A top clip stiff stake with a similar
stress cone larger than one tool, it produces less surface area produced 4.5 kN in the same snow. If
total shear surface area than two separate anchors a mid clip had been used in this snow, it would
would because the stress cones overlap. There is have produced an anchor of > 10 kN.
also a potential issue if using an upright ice axe in
a multi-tool anchor if it is pulled from the top as this
creates uneven load so it is possible that it is not
adding to the size of the stress cone, but is instead
contributing to the compression strength of the
anchor in an inefficient way. It is important with
multiple anchors that are likely to fail under
compression to set them up so that they do not
pull through where another anchor was.
8. T SLOTS
Figure 11: The photo on the left shows skis in as a
The other mode for placing a snow anchor is X. This failed at 2.2 kN in pencil hardness snow.
horizontally, otherwise known as a T slot or The photo on the right is two skis in line at the
horizontal mid clip. If the snow can be compacted point of failure at 2.8 kN. A noticeable bow has
in front of them to produce stronger snow they are formed in the front ski.
very strong anchors. As stress cone size is heavily
influenced by depth they would need to be dug
nearly as deep as the length of the anchor in order
to get greater strength than an upright mid clip that
uses the same object. This would require digging
and compacting a large volume of snow. In snow
that can be strengthened they will take longer to
build than an equivalent strength upright mid clip.
In weak snow that cannot be compacted to make
stronger snow they become the only option for a
snow anchor if you do not have an anchor with a Figure 12: a pair of skis as a mid clip is shown just
wire cable that can be pulled into the snow. In this prior to failure in shear. Note the tension crack.
sort of snow where moving the snow damages The skis were in to 850 mm and failure occurred at
snow bonds, a narrow trench needs to be dug for 14.8 kN in pencil hardness snow that had been
the cord or tape attachment. compacted in front of the skis.
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2010 International Snow Science Workshop
be strengthened through compacting it skis used Bogie D., 2005. Snow Anchors, Christchurch New
as upright mid clips with at least half of the ski Zealand.
buried should give a strong anchor. If the snow Braun-Elwert G., 2005. Belays on Snow, Tekapo,
cannot be strengthened through compaction then New Zealand.
skis should be buried as T slots. Fortini A., 2002, The Use of Pickets and Flukes as
Snow Anchors. International Technical
10. CONCLUSION Rescue Symposium, Denver, CO.
McClung D., Schaerer P., 2006. The Avalanche
The objective when building an anchor in snow is Handbook, The Mountaineers Seattle
to quickly produce a snow anchor that will not fail Foundation. 4, 76-77.
under the expected loads. To do this users need to Winterkorn H. F., Fang H. Y., 1975. Engineering
be aware of the factors that effect snow strength, Handbook, Van Nostrand Reinhold
be aware of the likely loads for the situation and Company.
know a variety of techniques that will cope with the
combinations of snow and loads. Snow anchors do
not come under the upper end of the loads they
could be subjected to (6 kN to 8 kN) very often so
catastrophic failures are infrequent with users.
There will however be a number of situations
where many people are operating very close to the
failure limits of their snow anchors without realising
that, particularly if skis are being used as top clips.
11. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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