Cutting snow steps on slopes
In many of the mountaineering expedition books that I've read, there are references to cutting of snow steps on slopes.
What is the advantage of cutting snow steps? Why not use crampons and do a front pointing cramponing with additional support from the ice axe? (Side stepping also seems reasonably safe on non vertical climbs). Is there a specific situation which calls for snow steps?
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Cutting the Ice steps is technique which is used since years, and rather was invented way before something like crampons came up in mountaineering.
I met a team at Saser Kangri, who spent a lot of time in cutting steps in Ice. And, I could only ask them why to do it and invest so much of amount of energy and critical time when you have crampons?
I believe Ice Cutting is done on a very hard snow. Agreeing to the fact that you can use crampons for an ascend over such a face, but for a team of around 10-15 mountaineers, everybody exerts the same when they choose not to cut ice steps, but if two/three heads go a bit ahead, cutting steps, the team can proceed much faster and rather in a packed approach, like a convoy. In case of bad visibility, the stranded people can track down such steps and follow them rather than looking for something else which is more artificial. I see that as the biggest advantage of doing it.
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There's a discussion of this in Freedom of the Hills. The question refers to snow, but usually this is done on ice (or very hard snow). One reason would be if not everybody in the group has crampons. For example, mountain guides in East Africa usually can't afford crampons. Historically, the technique was developed before crampons were invented. Even if everyone in the group has crampons, front-pointing on steep ice is very tiring, and may not be secure, especially if the ice is hard enough that you can't drive the spike of the ice ax in.
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