Preventing snowballing on snowshoe crampons

[Halite]

After lugging a big set of balls--snowballs that is--the entire Westkill traverse on Saturday, I'm now wondering if there is a way to keep snowshoe crampons from balling up in warm snow conditions. I'm thinking about melting on some warm temp cross-country glide wax, but am not sure that would do the job. Any suggestions?

 

[Rik]

Have you tried spray cooking oil? Works fairly well but sometimes needs to be reapplied.

 

[TCD]

I've used glide wax and spray Silicone with pretty good results. It doesn't last all day, though, depending on snow. I haven't had a big problem with it (Northern Lite shoes don't have a really aggressive claw, so I think that minimizes snow build up). You could try to duplicate the antibottes sold for crampons (basically a rubber sheet anchored to the crampon).

 

[Jay H]

I've had good luck with spray on cooking oil (garlic flavored) in the catskills on my Sherpas...

Jay

 

[WalksWithBlackflies]

I've heard duct tape on the bottom of the crampon works well... haven't tried though.

 

[IndianChris]

Halite (nice name),
I was on the trails last weekend also and with the warm weather I had the same problem - big balls! As I was hiking I was wondering if some sort of wax would work, like the type used on skiis or surfboards.
Good luck with it because those balls can add some weight and can be a real pain in the butt when looking for that extra grabability on the trail.

 

[Stan]

I'd try WD40 ... isn't that what most people keep in their car tool kit along with duct tape?

 

[Warren]

Step, wack ice axe/pole against shoe, step, wack ice axe/pole against other shoe, step.......

Got more than a few notches on my ice axe from doing this with crampons, I do imagine duct tape would be easier.

 

[HikerBob]

Both Karen and I have had balling problems on our Tubbs with both the aluminum and now the steel (Viper) crampons. On the last Nearly Moriah trip I wore my cheapo Atlas shoes and didn't have any trouble but Karen's Tubbs balled up horribly. I offered to swap but she wouldn't have it. May have contributed to her knee problem <sigh>

The Tubbs have a sheet of plastic they call an anti-balling plate but it doesn't work apparently. Be interesting to here if one brand seems more prone than another then try and figure out what the difference is.

If I try anything I'll favour Pam over WD40 - a tad more environmentaly friendly I would think.

Bob

 

[albee]

I had the same problem on Sunday. It put a terrible amount of pressure on my calves and I decided to bareboot until I really needed them. I have spoken to a number of snowshoe racers that say the spray-on cooking oil doesn't work since it gets scrubbed off in a matter of minutes. Duct tape may work but ice only builds up around the teeth of the Aluminum claw on mine. It isn't so easy to tape the teeth.

Oh, and I wear Crescent Moon 12's. I've beat the crap out of them this winter and they still come back for more. They have a Polyethelyne plate under the cleat but the snow sticks to the teeth of the toe, midfoot, and heel cleats.

Maybe try some spray-on ski wax? Something that will stick on and not simply lubricate it. Hopefully all this rain will wash away any reason for snowshoes soon enough.

 

[Jay H]

Supposedly, you could also make one with an old plastic milk gallon. Cut a corner out and then cut out the holes for the particular crampon pattern, then fit the cut out over the crampon. If you look at the new yellow Garmin antibots for their G10/G12 crampon, you'll see that they fit over the instep and toe portion and are make a little dome over the inside of the crampon. It you cut out the milk jug in such a way, you can do something like that. Just don't make the dome too big or else it will be too tall.

Also, you probably know this, do not walk in streams, puddle, don't get the snowshoe wet in any way.

Jay

 

[hikerfast]

i think the preferred method is to smash the side of your snowshoe with your ice axe every other step...it doesnt slow you down at ALL....laffs. and it makes such lovely music

 

[mudhook51]

preventing snowballing

I pop riveted neoprene strips to the crampons,used silicon sprays, armoraled, ski waxed, butter sprayed ( not the garlic flavor, yet ), but what works the best is to jump up every third step, click your heels together and say "I wish..."

 

[jade]

If you don't mind parting with $30, you can purchase a pair of Antibots. How they got that name, I do not know--maybe anti-Balls Of Thick Snow! But their purpose in life is to resist the balling of ice and snow on your crampons......
Just for the fun of it, I'm going to google 'antibots' and see what comes up....
....Jade

 

[Mark]

If you don't mind parting with $30, you can purchase a pair of Antibots.

Do they make these for snow shoes? I've seen them for crampons. Being a frugal hiker, I tie wrapped pieces of a plastic milk jug to the bottoms of my crampons. I haven't been out in the worst, sticky snow conditions, but the field tests I did on my front lawn during a thaw were encouraging. I suppose you could try the same thing for your snow shoe cleats.

 

[Heather]

PAM works well