Thank you Steve. I spoke with an employee of Sierra Elevation in Lone Pine this evening. They rent crampons. He told me that he has seen a significant number hikers using Hillsound crampons and low-height trail shoes in the last few days. He said that there is enough traffic on the mountain that the trails in the snow are such that he thought the Hillsounds with a trail shoe would be adequate and that a crampon with longer cleats would not necessarily be required. He did say the Hillsounds are perhaps sub-optimal relative to the longer cleats of a more conventional crampon but he felt the HIllsounds would probably be adequate. He said to a great extent the issues comes down to how adept you are at moving around on a steep slope with crampons. He said something to the effect that if they (my wife and son) can stay within already worn paths in the snow that they would not necessarily need to force the toe of their boot/crampon into snow or ice, that they could walk in the foot prints of previous hikers and therefore would not necessarily require more aggressive crampons.
I guess we will see how it goes.
Thank you for your input.
