[pct-l] Crampons

[Scott Williams]

Yes he is the man to answer, and I'm sure Ned will chime in at some point.
In 2010, a high snow year, I used Kahtoola Kts Aluminum Crampons.  Two of
us had these, and they were our favorite pieces of gear on the hike.  We
used them daily for almost 5 weeks.  The others in our group had Kahtoola
microspikes and those worked well also.  The main differences are that the
microspikes can possibly roll under your foot when you're on a steep and
icy slope as they are metal spikes on an elastic web, whereas the Kts
provide a solid platform under the heal of the shoe as with a traditional
crampon so you can kick in steps and heal plunge more effectively, and they
can't roll.  The other difference is that the microspikes are a few ounces
lighter.   The Kts cramps have the front two spikes turned down so you
don't stab your ankle when walking long distances.  Traditional cramps have
these front spikes straight out to facilitate serious icy climbing,
something you hopefully won't have to do.  They are built for walking.

In our group, all but one of us traversed the very snowy Sierra of that
year in trail runners and loved how fast they dried after crossing streams
and rivers.  The one pair of boots in the group stayed wet much longer and
proved a very tough pair of shoes to put on in the frozen mornings.  We all
eventually got into putting our shoes into plastic bags and bringing them
into our sleeping bags about 3am so as to give them time to thaw out.  One
morning just after Mather Pass, camping on snow, the boots proved so
difficult to put on, our good buddy almost brought out his stove to warm
them and get them pliable enough to get his feet into them.  Every other
person I saw that year in the snow was using trail runners.  Much of the
experience of the Sierra in early season is not just the snow, but the
constant fording of swollen streams, and for most of us, having shoes that
dried quickly was a real benefit.

I used the same set up on the CDT in the early season San Juans and they
worked just fine, and in mid March on the AT when we had several days of
zero degree weather and a good dump of snow in the Smokies.  My partner
suffered frostbite to his fingers when his gloves got wet, but no one I met
had any problems with their feet being cold in trail runners even then.
Mine were insulated by the load of powder I accumulated with each step in
the 3 foot drifts.

But, if you want the best for late season Sierra snow get the Kahtoola Kts
Aluminum Cramps.  That is unless there's something new out there.  Maybe
someone will pipe up with a better solution.   But at this point in the
year, who knows what the snowpack will be by June.  If El Nino proves true
to it's usual nature, it may bring lots of late season warm storms and you
may have lots of dirt to walk on.  But even with those, the higher passes
will be icy I'm sure.

Shroomer



On Mon, Jan 11, 2016 at 9:50 AM, Peter Necarsulmer <necarsulmer at mac.com>
wrote:

> Ned is the man to answer.  He's written extensively and very smartly on
> the best footwear for snow hikers.
>
> Escargot
>
>
> Peter Necarsulmer
> necarsulmer at mac.com
>
> > On Jan 11, 2016, at 6:41 AM, Mike Garland <mikegarland1957 at icloud.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > What type of crampons are recommended, should I be wearing hiking boots
> or stay with a trail runner tennis shoe, because of high snowfall
> >
> > Sent from my iPad
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