UKH

This came up during Monday's BMC Tech Committee meeting and I thought it sensible to share it so it gets more reach as I know a lot of people aren't on Facebook/ don't follow Mountaineering Scotland on there: 

Do you use microspikes or crampons in winter?

We know the sun is shining outside and that winter hill walking and mountaineering seems like distant memory...but Mountaineering Scotland and our Mountain Safety Group partners would like to ask for your helping in finding out more about how people are using crampons, microspikes or other traction devices when out in the winter hills...and what is influencing their decisions on when to use them. 

This initial survey will be used to gather information about how people perceive and use them, and aims to draw some insight for future developments and guidance to aid the decision making process.

If you carry microspikes and/or crampons with you when you head to the hills in winter, please take a moment to complete the survey by visiting: www.surveymonkey.com/r/2024microspikes

The Facebook link is here if you want to make any comment back to them (noting that I am not a Mountaineering Scotland member or volunteer myself and haven't had any involvement in writing this):

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/fAJqGPY9gVdjoncG/

Good one. 

But the use case I really like is on running shoes at very low slope angles where it's very easy to smash a kneecap or tailbone on ice, microspikes are perfect, crampons are fine but heavy. The questions don't really reflect this possibility. 

I completed it last night. I hope they get useful results, because through various (often winter focused) hill walking facebook groups I've joined in recent years, it's clear that microspikes have become an absolutely massive thing. Just because they are much cheaper and fit all sorts footwear compared to crampons, I suspect they are a significant addition to mountain safety. But clearly there are times and places where they perhaps let people get in to deeper do-do than they would have if they hadn't had them, and situations where they really don't work.

I still haven't bought any to try - I rarely go out in winter just to walk: normally aiming to do a graded ridge or gully etc. even if on my own and sans corde, so just take some lightish crampons, but on some scratchy days on Crib Goch or Striding Edge I've often thought they would be perfect.

Try them sometime. Coming from a mountaineering/winter climbing background as we both do, it'll be an experience to open your mind and loosen your bowel. Comically not similar to crampons. 

They have a place of course. With a light axe and the ability to cut steps (for contingencies) they feel like the right tool for well-judged running outings. And having once gone over on sheet ice and completely obliterated a hard plastic lunchbox (which probably saved my tailbone) I can definitely see an application on low angles. 

Y

You could say that about any mountaineering kit. Axes, crampons, ropes all let us get into places where we really 'shouldn't' be. I've only used spikes once, onto trainers, on the Glen Sligachan path which alternated between bone-dry and sheet ice. No crampons would have been a nightmare, and crampons would also have been a nightmare.

I know folk who have found them incredibly useful on the Cuillin crest where you can get that thin veneer of powder and ice on rock, where crampons are like stilts, but microspikes let you keep dexterity. Haven't done it myself yet so no personal experience.

Of course, that's why the sentence began with "But" and my sentence before had been "Just because they are much cheaper and fit all sorts footwear compared to crampons, I suspect they are a significant addition to mountain safety."

I remember hearing an MRT member in an interview some years ago saying that the easy availability of cheap fleeces has meant a huge drop in the numbers of rescues they do for people with hypothermia. I suspect the different types of microspikes available for not too much might have a similar positive effect on decreasing accidents.

A MRT member who was present in the meeting mentioned that they often carry them in winter to lend to people that have got themselves in trouble above the snow line as they very often aren't wearing boots suitable for normal crampons, it gives them a much greater degree of mobility on icy ground which makes that kind of rescue less demanding for the team members. 

I am sold on getting a pair to carry on winter mountain days where I expect to encounter heavily compacted paths with limited snow depth (Llanberis Path, descent to Swirls car park from Helvellyn etc).

In reply to

I got microspikes for winter running in the mountains but gave up carrying them after a couple of seasons. I found that I could get by without them in a lot of conditions, particularly if I had poles and that when I decided I needed something on my feet it was really a proper crampon I wanted.

Also worth mentioning, as came up in the meeting, that there are micro spikes and micro spikes. Not all are the same/have the same capabilities.

Same here, I always recon if I need proper crampons I'll just go walking or mountainiring or I'll run on smaller hills or on the road.

I think that was my line in the meeting!

My worries with microspikes is how secure the attachment to your boot/shoe is. I've had a near fatal accident on a shallow slope in Iceland when what I thought was grass/soil was black ice and it tilted away from me at about 15 degrees straight toward a frozen over waterfall. I didn't realise the heel had slipped up the side of my boot, hence when I placed my foot I slipped on my arse and started skidding toward the waterfall. Thankfully, there was a boulder at the edge of the iced up river. 

Sadly, microspikes with decent attachment are similar prices to full crampons. Additional velcro straps work well to keep the heels on though.

Here's a diagram of where I add an extra strap to keep the heel in place.

That's probably a really useful addition to them!