‘Do I take the crampons too?’
Having finally got around to buying a pair of snowshoes (on the todo list for at least a decade), I’m off on a week long traverse of a local range, the Kakanuis.
The question I’m toying with is ‘do I take the crampons too’. The terrain is mostly retired high-country sheep farms - summer run blocks, now mostly in the conservation estate. So it is quite extensively tracked with old farm tracks, but, there several untracked sections, and a few brief steep climbs (up to 500m altitude gain per 1km). And unless anything changes by Monday it will pretty much all be under a foot or two of snow, and probably well iced before the sun hits. But it’s all in the realm of tramping (hiking) - would not be a climb or even a scramble under summer conditions.
http://routeguides.co.nz/trips/5927
*(Note 20m contours, not 10m!) *
(Also note, starting in the east and walking until I run out of time - so not the whole planned trip detailed)
If I didn’t have the showshoes, I’d definitely be taking the crampons, and would expect to need them on icy slopes. So I will probably take them anyway, given it’s the first real outing for the shoes.
But I’d be keen on feedback from other more experienced snowshoers. What do you take, and for what terrain/conditions?
Plus any other last-minute tips.