In reply to JStearn:
I'm curious about how much of the European lack of enthusiasm for stakes is cultural and how much is related to actual differences in conditions. Here in NZ they're carried and used as a matter of course for mountaineering and, by using various configurations, you can usually get a good anchor with one. They can be plenty strong enough to haul an unhelpful victim out of a crevasse with and, by the way, yes - one rescuer can do that.
Depending on the snow conditions they can be hammered in vertically and clipped at the top, set as a vertical mid-clip or horizontally in a tee-slot. An ice axe can be added to the system to increase the strength of the anchor. The "snow pig" mid-clip arrangement described by Every Day Normal Guy does have that vulnerability to ice crusts in the snow pack and I don't think many people use that now.
When they're used in a tee-slot, a couple of advantages over an ice axe are that it's much easier to clip the mid-point of a stake and so avoid skewing it out of the slot and it has greater surface area than an ice axe shaft so it provides more resistance.
If the snow is very soft (e.g. powder or really wet slush) then you're probably going to need even more surface area, in which case a buried rucksack is an option although without a shovel it's going to take a while to bury it. If you're on skis then you don't need anything else.
Aside from a crevasse rescue anchor we quite often use them for anchors and / or protection on steep snow slopes and, again, you can almost always get a good anchor one way or another. I've heard of people cutting them in half to create smaller, lighter stakes for runners but they're probably only useful in a limited range of snow conditions.
