If you are considering climbing or traveling on glaciers on one of the trips I organize consider the following. I decided to post this after one pair of skiers on a trip were going to bring kayak throw-bags for glacier travel in the spring. On one hand, crevasse falls this time of year on many glaciers are unlikely. On the other hand, it can happen. And these areas are typically remote, all immediately necessary equipment will either need to be on-hand within the travel party (preferred) or brought to the site by others in our group if they can be summonsed from the hut/base camp or their own route.

As these trips are unguided (short of special advanced arrangements to the contrary) - the decision on what to bring and what to carry on climbs/tours/hikes is yours. The following information is taken from the written guidelines for professional guides in Canada and is posted here to assist you in making your own decisions on equipment.

From: Mountain Guides Professional and Technical Guidelines

Light Equipment

It is common, especially in mechanized skiing operations, to carry light equipment (5.5.mm spectra/gemini rope, superlight carabiners, 12mm webbing, micro-ascenders, etc.) for rescue purposes.

Limitations

Consider the following when determining if light equipment is suitable:

• Strength: 5.5mm cord is not designed for climbing and rescue applications. Strength over edges, around carabiners, through pulleys, and under shock load is unproven (by either laboratory testing or practical field use) in comparison to standard equipment. Superlight carabiners and other hardware is more susceptible to breaking than similar standard gear when used in less than ideal load configurations (e.g. crossloading, over an edge, etc.).
  
• Coefficient of friction: Spectra and gemini materials have low friction and are not very compressible. This makes gripping hitches and ratchet systems far less effective on lightweight gear. It is common for the sheath on cord/ropes to slip with use and under load.
  
• Low melting point: spectra and gemini have low melting points and poor resistance to abrasion.
  
• Brittleness: spectra and gemini cord is relatively brittle in comparison to standard materials. These fibres, which provide great strength with low weight have poor resistance to constant flexing and strength is consistently reduced in situations that, with standard equipment, are "normal" applications (e.g. running over an edge, through a carabiner, around a pulley, etc.).
  

Advantages

There are only two real advantages to lightweight equipment: they have high strength to weight ratio and are compact.

When to consider lightweiqht qear

Lightweight equipment is appropriate only in situations where:

• The chance of an accident requiring rescue techniques is low (e.g. deep snowpack on glaciers, skiing vs. climbing objective, etc.).
  
• Standard rescue equipment is readily available.
  
• Time is not likely to be an issue (e.g. you can wait for help to come).
  
• There is no shock load potential.
  
• There are no edges that the rope might have to run over.
  

In practical terms, this means primarily in mechanized skiing operations.

Uses

Lightweight gear is used for:

• Stabilising an accident until standard equipment arrives.
  
• Supplementing standard equipment (e.g. as secondary or backup systems).
  
• Carrying out extrications only in life-or-death situations.