Crampon question
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I have ice climbing crampons. Recently I've been invited to to some winter hikes. Question should I get a different crampon for hiking? |
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Yes. What kind of hiking? Consider kahtoola microspikes. Hiking in mountain boots and crampons is less fun than hiking in light boots/sneakers and microspikes. |
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And get trekking poles. Crossing ice sucks with a backpack on. |
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I can't vouch for most of the "spiky rubber cleat things," but my microspikes are great and have held up for several seasons of occasional, heavy use. If you're hiking on trails, mostly on packed snow, they are better, lighter and more comfortable (not to mention less dangerous to your pant legs) than full crampons. If you're getting onto glaciers or steep snowfields, obviously you want something more serious with front points. |
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What the others said... It depends on what the crampons you use for ice are, what boots you'll wear, and what you're hiking. This might help. |
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Exactly what kind of crampons do you have and where are you going hiking? Kahtoola micro spikes are great for walking on well packed trails, and you can wear a lighter pair of shoes/boots than with crampons. They've largely replaced crampons for a lot of applications. As you get into steeper terrain and icier conditions (glaciers, steep snowfields, etc.), crampons become more useful, but the crampons used for this sort of thing are not the same as crampons used for high angle ice climbing. |
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I love MicroSpikes and I climbed (very stupidly and I do not recommend)Flume slide last winter in just Microspikes and a mountaineering axe. Very delicately and slow but I made it. |