Slaying Patagonian mushrooms, double-corniced ridges in Alaska or Cascade volcanoes … they all require pickets. Pound these aluminum rails into solid neve for running belays, or bury them horizontally in soft snow for crevasse rescue. Pickets are versatile and they hold well. Too bad they’re so unwieldy.

The standard picket for mountain climbing is a two-foot, T-shaped rail of aluminum as made by MSR, Yates, SMC, and Omega Pacific. Oval pickets, round pickets and flukes also work in snow, but are not as versatile in all snow conditions. Whatever design you choose, they’re like racking garbage can lids. They’re sharp and bulky on your pack and even more awkward on your harness. For starters, don’t use three-foot pickets unless you’re masochistic. And if you’re ski mountaineering, then ditch the pickets and use the skis instead. But if you’re on glaciers and not skiing, then pickets are essential. Here are some slinging and racking ideas that might reduce your mid-mountain tangles. The points are geared toward the MSR Coyote-style picket, which has seven clip-in holes down the axis.

Girth-Hitch Picket Slinging
The standard method for slinging pickets is to girth-hitch a shoulder-length sling through the top hole and clip a biner into the sling. The girth hitch allows clip-in to be easily repositioned to the middle hole for T-slotting (deadman) the picket in soft snow. Also girth-hitch the sling to the biner to prevent it from sliding around.

Pickets in Series
If your pickets are rigged to use in series, then equalizing two pickets, one behind the other, is a fast and easy way to improve picket strength in marginal snow. Cut a five-foot section of 9/16-inch flat webbing or 7-mm Perlon cord. Feed one end through the top hole of the picket, around the back (flat section) and back through the hole. Tie the sling with an in-line overhand or double fishermans knot.

To use pickets in series, hammer in the lower picket in like normal. Pound in the second picket so its sling is tight to the back of the first picket. When the lower picket is loaded it will start crunching forward through the snow until some weight goes onto the second picket and then the two pickets become equalized and doubly strong.

Slinging like Willie Prittie
Willie Prittie has climbed a million huge mountains and has summited Argentina’s 22,841-foot Aconcagua over 40 times. Willie understands pickets and prefers the Bandolier style. To be like Willie, cut an eight-foot section of webbing or Perlon and tie a huge loop with a fishermans or in-line overhand. Girth-hitch this massive loop through the top hole. Also girth-hitch the biner into the sling. This massive loop allows you to clip the biner into lower picket holes and sling the picket over your shoulder like Pancho Villa. While it's a great system for both racking and cleaning, the long sling is cumbersome.

Racking
After months of guiding steep, picket-friendly faces in Bolivia I settled on quiver-racking. Using this method I’d often rack and pound 12 pickets per block of pitches.

First, equip your pack shoulder straps with vertical gear loops made from cord threaded through plastic tubing. Then rig the pickets with shoulder-length slings or for in-series (Willie’s method will tangle). Stack the pickets into the picket pockets on either side of your pack and clip the biners into the shoulder gear loops. Assure the pickets, slings and biners are orderly or this system won’t work. As you climb, just un-clip the top biner from your gear loop and quick-draw the picket.

When cleaning a pitch, the standard way to store a picket is to clip the biner into the third hole down and then clip it into your harness gear loop.

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