sardog1
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First, a mini history lesson. Crampons used to be the tools of technical climbers, who wore boots designed for crampons and who were generally instructed in the proper fitting and marriage of the two.
Then outerwear and base layers got a whole lot lighter, warmer, and drier, which enabled many non-climbers to venture into the winter mountains and thus inevitably onto steep, icy terrain. These folks saw the benefits of crampons but they were disinclined to walk long distances in extremely stiff, heavy climbing boots. (Yeah, I know, climbing boots have changed a lot, but we're on a history lesson right now, not a product safari.)
So the hiking crowd started wearing crampons with non-technical winter boots like Sorels, Bugaboos, Chilkats, etc. This worked some of the time with some crampons, but there was often a problem. A rigid crampon does not do well in a marriage with a flexible sole -- think of John Gielgud being married to Madonna. Eventually the crampon will break at the bar joining heel and toe.
Some tried the solution of allowing one end of the bar to act as a hinge, which sort of worked but often not for a long period of use. So the crampon makers innovated in response to growing demand for their products. They started making crampons with two flexible pieces of spring steel, one lying atop the other. This mostly eliminated the bar breakage.
Yet still there was not happiness in the mountains sometimes. Non-technical winter boots frequently have a largish, oafish heel to them (not to mention the oafish feel to them ...) This means that crampon heel attachments frequently do not fit properly on such boots. Either the heel is too wide, or the occasional snowshoe lip on the back of the heel gets in the way.
Why should you care about any of this as a first-time crampon buyer? Because crampons are life-saving equipment. When they don't fit well, they can come off at the most inopportune moment, i.e., when you're on an icy slope that makes you clench just a little bit. "Fit well" means that you can hold the crampon and boot upside down while the boot stays in the crampon, without benefit of help from you or the binding strap.
TAKE THE BOOTS WITH YOU WHEN YOU BUY THE CRAMPONS. You and your kin will be a whole lot happier with the outcome.
Then outerwear and base layers got a whole lot lighter, warmer, and drier, which enabled many non-climbers to venture into the winter mountains and thus inevitably onto steep, icy terrain. These folks saw the benefits of crampons but they were disinclined to walk long distances in extremely stiff, heavy climbing boots. (Yeah, I know, climbing boots have changed a lot, but we're on a history lesson right now, not a product safari.)
So the hiking crowd started wearing crampons with non-technical winter boots like Sorels, Bugaboos, Chilkats, etc. This worked some of the time with some crampons, but there was often a problem. A rigid crampon does not do well in a marriage with a flexible sole -- think of John Gielgud being married to Madonna. Eventually the crampon will break at the bar joining heel and toe.
Some tried the solution of allowing one end of the bar to act as a hinge, which sort of worked but often not for a long period of use. So the crampon makers innovated in response to growing demand for their products. They started making crampons with two flexible pieces of spring steel, one lying atop the other. This mostly eliminated the bar breakage.
Yet still there was not happiness in the mountains sometimes. Non-technical winter boots frequently have a largish, oafish heel to them (not to mention the oafish feel to them ...) This means that crampon heel attachments frequently do not fit properly on such boots. Either the heel is too wide, or the occasional snowshoe lip on the back of the heel gets in the way.
Why should you care about any of this as a first-time crampon buyer? Because crampons are life-saving equipment. When they don't fit well, they can come off at the most inopportune moment, i.e., when you're on an icy slope that makes you clench just a little bit. "Fit well" means that you can hold the crampon and boot upside down while the boot stays in the crampon, without benefit of help from you or the binding strap.
TAKE THE BOOTS WITH YOU WHEN YOU BUY THE CRAMPONS. You and your kin will be a whole lot happier with the outcome.
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