Know About Crampons

Crampons is a metal plate with spikes fixed to a boot to improve traction and secured mobility for walking on ice, rock climbing, ascending snow slopes, etc. There are currently 10-14 points that include the forward angled spikes. It is attached to footwear such as ski boots, with a binding system. Crampons are graded as C1, C2 and C3 where C1 is relatively flexible, C2 is versatile for walking and mountaineering, and C3 is for technical mountaineering. The crampons made of aluminum or steel can be used for snow walking, but for other purposes such as mountaineering, waterfall ice and mixed climbing, crampons made of steel are used. The snow walking crampons are flexible, with strap-on bindings and 8-10 points.

There are mainly 3 types of crampons

Step-in Crampons: It is expensive and used for extreme activities such as mountaineering, alpinism, ice climbing, and dry tooling. They are expensive, heavy and not compatible with all types of boots. In order to use in extreme activities, it has to be tightly fit with the boots. It is tightly attached with rubber belts to the boots and metal bars fitted into the rubber welts which can dig into the groove for traction. 

Hybrid Crampons: It is almost as tightly fit as and heavy as step-in crampons. It is more flexible than step-in crampons and compatible with a wider range of boots. It has a toe strap that is pulled in place, instead of the metal strap. Even though it has many features similar to step-in crampons, it does not have as much technical specialization as step-in crampons. They can be used on moderate slopes but not on steep slopes. So they are mainly used in glacier travel and non-technical mountaineering.

Step-on Crampons: It has spikes which are just 1/4th size of step-in crampons and provide extra traction to the boots. They are lightweight, cheaper and fit with almost all varieties of boots. They don’t have metal straps or rubber welts, but are attached using straps and elastic features. Even though they cannot be used for extreme activities, they are popularly used for hiking, scrambling and moderate glacier travels. They are easier to maintain and can be used for casual activities.