[pct-l] Crampon alternatives

[vichanson@juno.com (vichanson@juno.com)]

After having to turn around on our Mt. Baldy attempt the beginning of
Dec. due to not have crampons or an ice ax on the 3 "T's" trail from
Icehouse Saddle to Baldy Notch, I decided to look at some crampons at
Sports Chalet. They had some that were made of a molded "rubber band"
that had coil springs over the round rubber. They reminded me of the new
tire "chains" for cars. I don't remember who makes them or the name of
them but they were only $18.00 and the kid working there assured me that
they would work fine in packed snow or ice. However being skeptical and
"frugal" I decided that I could make some cheaper. I went to Lowe's and
tried to find small diameter springs but they didn't have anything. Next
I went to the chain section and found some lightweight chain (#16 double
jack chain) and some 1/8" nylon mason line ($6.00 total) and decided to
make them like regular old fashioned tire chains. I couldn't find any
suitable bungee/rubber band material to use for "tighteners" so just used
a piece of the nylon line/rope (and a piece of the chain as a hook) to go
across the top of my shoes to hold them on. It looked real promising when
I tried them out in my living room on the carpet (and they only weigh 4
1/2 oz.)so could hardly wait to get out to an icy trail on Christmas day
to try them for real. The north side of Mt. Lowe obliged with a nice icy
trail and they worked great, I was so excited and was planning my
marketing strategy and sales at ADZPCTKO when I noticed that one of them
started to slide around on my shoe as the rope stretched. Soon the other
one had a chain link come loose and finally fell off as the rope got too
loose. The principle works great however a lot more R&D is needed to make
them usable. Hopefully a stronger chain and some kind of tightening
device will solve the problem. Has anyone tried to make anything similar?
Any ideas?

Has anyone used the commercial ones that I tried to describe? How do they
work?

Vic