Wands

Wands are a cheap and effective way to avoid getting lost when traveling on snow. On a glacier climb, backcountry ski or snowshoe trip, you may set off under a bright sky with perfect visibility, with your summit clearly in view. By midmorning, however, clouds may settle in, engulfing you in a dense, moist whiteout in which you may not be able to distinguish up slope from down, let alone terrain features. Under these conditions, a series of well-placed wands can lead you safely back to base camp or the trailhead with a minimum of wasted time. The trick is to prepare for poor visibility at the outset by having one member of the party place a wand in the snow every 100 m or so. Close enough that you will be able to see from one to the next in a whiteout. On the return, you only need to follow the trail of wands to retrace your steps, with one person retrieving the wands as you descend. It is often necessary to wand only a portion of the route, and a bundle of 50 to 100 wands, weighing only a couple of pounds, will cover almost any one or two day trip. I usually distribute bundles of 25 wands among several members of the party.

Wands have several uses in addition to route-marking. They may be used to mark a cache of food or equipment, to make it easier to find and recover the items later. They can be placed to form a "screen" to ensure that you do not overshoot your base camp, cache, trailhead, etc. You may chose to use wands to mark a hazard such as a hidden crevasse, weak snow bridge, undercut snowbank or cornice. Even if you do not mark an entire route, a well-placed wand in the right spot will prevent you from missing a critical turn on your return. And finally, a bundle of wands makes a great splint! Wands are so useful, cheap, easy to make and lightweight that there is really no excuse not to have them. I always carry at least a half-dozen when I'm traveling on snow.

To make wands, go to your local garden supply store and buy some thin bamboo garden stakes. These are usually about a meter long and dyed green. Some of them will be too thin or crooked to use for wands, but most are just right. You will also need a roll of electrical tape or friction tape, a roll of fluorescent surveyor's tape and a marking pen. Using a thin, sharp pocketknife, split the thick end of the bamboo about 3-4 cm (1.5"). Fold an 20 cm (8" ) piece of surveyor's tape in half, and slip the middle fold through the slit in the stake. Loop the tape over its free ends and pull it snug. Once the fluorescent tape is in position, wrap electrical tape around the split at the top of the stake to secure the tie. It is a good idea to write your initials on one end of the surveyor's tape so that you (or someone looking for you!) can distinguish your wands from others on the mountain. You will get more efficient after the first few tries. I am singularly maladroit, yet I managed to make up 100 wands in two evenings, sitting on my living room floor, listening to music and sipping a little Lagavulin. It was reasonably pleasant.