Yates Snow Picket

[dmercerca]

I just picked up a Yates Snow Picket . It is V shaped as opposed to T shaped (like the MSR ones).

 

When rigging the picket as a dead-man, which way should face the load, the top or bottom of the V?

 

When I first got it it seemed obvious that the top of the V should face the load but when I looked at the Yates Pickets which come pre-rigged with a cable, I noticed that the cable is set so that the bottom of the V faces the load. This seems counter-intuitive.

 

Any opinions or sage advice?

 

DAve

[snafflehound]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'top' and 'bottom', but the pointy part of the 'V' should be directed towards the load. In this configuration the picket moves thru the snow like a snowplow compressing the snow around it and producing more resistance to the load.

If it is placed with the open end towards the load it will slice thru the snow compressing only the snow directly ahead of the opening, maybe 2in. wide.

The only reference to pull tests done on snow stakes that I've seen were done in New Zealand. I'll post it if I can find it. Hope this helps.

S

 

[ 05-31-2002, 03:42 PM: Message edited by: snafflehound ]

[slothrop]

I guess I would have thought that the wider part of the V should go first, to catch more snow, but the cross-section *is* the same.

 

I have a snow fluke whose cable is arranged to that the sharp end of the V is oriented toward the load. That's two votes for pointy-end-first...