DIY snow picket

cost about $9.16 to make. RIP me.

snow picket

Cool! How did you make it. Where did you buy the stake?

orangealuminum.com/bar-stoc…

i just literally cut it in 2ft lengths and put some holes in it. i think you want the t6 aluminum.

There is a long tradition of DIY snow stakes, but they are not entirely trivial to get right. Theres an article out there somewhere where they tested a number of commercial stakes with many failing at worryingly low loads (I can't find it and fear it might have been lawyered out of existence as it wasn't very flattering to several commercial stakes - if I remember correctly the only ones which really performed well were these - aspiring.co.nz/tramping-sno…). T6 is the alloy that the good commercial ones use. What is the wall thickness, and overall dimensions? Both look a little small. In NZ where snow stakes are used a lot, a V section seems to be favoured over T-sections (I think it offers better strength and holding power for weight, although this is a bit anecdotal).

The following are a couple of good resources ... mountainsafety.org.nz/asset…

alpinerecreation.com/pdf/sa…

Just so you know, when talking about aluminum, T6 is not an alloy. It's a temper. Specifically, "solution heat treated then artificially aged".
matweb.com/reference/alumin…

6061 is an alloy, 7075 is an alloy metalsupermarkets.com/blog/…

David Baddeley wrote:There is a long tradition of DIY snow stakes, but they are not entirely trivial to get right. Theres an article out there somewhere where they tested a number of commercial stakes with many failing at worryingly low loads (I can't find it and fear it might have been lawyered out of existence as it wasn't very flattering to several commercial stakes - if I remember correctly the only ones which really performed well were these - aspiring.co.nz/tramping-sno…). T6 is the alloy that the good commercial ones use. What is the wall thickness, and overall dimensions? Both look a little small. In NZ where snow stakes are used a lot, a V section seems to be favoured over T-sections (I think it offers better strength and holding power for weight, although this is a bit anecdotal). The following are a couple of good resources ... mountainsafety.org.nz/asset… alpinerecreation.com/pdf/sa…

i got 1/8" thickness. overall is 2" wide 1" deep. and jesus christ that pdf is informative.

The MSR picket is more like an I beam with thin top and wide base. I was going to make my own, then just bought em. The V design would pack better with multiple. I'll be looking in to those.

I have a few of the Yates v-style pickets. They do indeed stack better, and the steel strike plate on top helps prevent the top from getting mushed, sharp edges when pounding them into hard snow.

However, ALL the holes in the Yates, except the top 2, are so small that a regular carabiner doesn't fit easily. (I use BD neutrinos, but people I climb with have a variety of carabiners, and none fit easily.) Also, the holes everywhere EXCEPT the top the middle positions are staggered, so you cannot even girth hitch a sling at 3/4 height, for example, if you needed (eg top-clip in knife hard, but shallow, snow).

I've read, in these forums, about some people tying a small loop of 5.5mm dyneema cord into the middle holes to provide an easy spot to clip a carabiner.

i didn't even think about the hole size when drilling these. here's my solution.

snow picket

It should go without saying, but don't forget to sand the holes smooth or you and the cord may die prematurely.

The Yates could be drilled and cleaned up if needed, but extending a middle hole with a long runner is ideal. I will be replacing mine with the Yates if there is no strength loss. The MSR I-beam design will be strong. I used to build bridge designs using I-beams, nothing beats em for the simplicity and weight.

I found this after running across a broken link in a CC post:
nortind.no/images/stories/N…

Another interesting test, simple format of a PowerPoint and just test/result. The Yates failed at lower loads here, and they claim horizontal is better due to vertical placements pulling out the top.

kristinandjerry.name/cmru/r…

ORANGE ALUMINUM; Excellent company to work with. You want 6061 alloy and T6 Temper. www.orangealuminum.com

Faulted Geologist wrote:The Yates could be drilled and cleaned up if needed, but extending a middle hole with a long runner is ideal.

Yea, I could drill them out, but I can only assume the hole size was chosen for a strength-related reason instead of just arbitrarily.

Since a carabiner won't easily fit through both the center holes when using it as a deadman or sierra/vertical mid-clip, I also usually girth hitch a runner through the holes. However, I'd prefer to be able to use a 120cm alpine draw to easily switch between a top-clip and mid-clip style, depending on conditions. I know it doesn't take that long to change the sling, but it's still something that bugs me. Plus, in theory, a girth hitch weakens the sling, and if there are any burs on the picket, the sling could be damaged. These would be avoided if a carabiner could simply be clipped into either location, as the I-beam style pickets allow.

Anyway, to illustrate a potential fix for that, one could do something like this with dyneema cord. (this picture just has regular cord for illustration)

center clipping loop added to yates picket. use 5.5mm dyneema cord with triple fisherman's knot.

Matt Stroebel wrote:It should go without saying, but don't forget to sand the holes smooth or you and the cord may die prematurely.

my cord can die?!

i made sure to do that.

kevin graves wrote:ORANGE ALUMINUM; Excellent company to work with. You want 6061 alloy and T6 Temper. www.orangealuminum.com

that's where i got it from

Did you get the 1/8" thickness?

V-stock 2" sides=5cm like the Yates:
orangealuminum.com/index.ph…

My coworker ordered extruded sections to build a home theater shelf using pro rack amps. To ship long pieces incurred a crazy shipping fee, so he was forced to order pieces and chop them to length. What was the shipping like for that 8' segment?

Maybe a custom order of 4' segments that could be chopped to 2' would be good. Any ideas where to get the steel top clips like on the Yates?

Faulted Geologist wrote:Any ideas where to get the steel top clips like on the Yates?

The strike plates? I'd guess you could make them from a small sheet of steel, and rivet them in place. Using a little piece of your T stock as a mold to form the steel might work.

@Ben Stabley:

The current iteration of the Yates Cable Picket comes with a steel cable already in place for mid-clips. It can easily be placed out of the way alongside the picket if using it as a top clip.

Derek DeBruin wrote:@Ben Stabley: The current iteration of the Yates Cable Picket comes with a steel cable already in place for mid-clips. It can easily be placed out of the way alongside the picket if using it as a top clip.

I know, but it costs $10 more and would interfere with the ability of the pickets to stack, which to me was the main reason for getting Yates instead of some I-beam style. Versus those points, I'd rather just put up with the arguably negligible disadvantages of girth hitching my sling to the center holes.

Faulted Geologist wrote:Did you get the 1/8" thickness? V-stock 2" sides=5cm like the Yates: orangealuminum.com/index.ph… My coworker ordered extruded sections to build a home theater shelf using pro rack amps. To ship long pieces incurred a crazy shipping fee, so he was forced to order pieces and chop them to length. What was the shipping like for that 8' segment? Maybe a custom order of 4' segments that could be chopped to 2' would be good. Any ideas where to get the steel top clips like on the Yates?

i got 1/8" shipping was $10.21 for 8ft.