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The cold world of skimo & alpine climbing

The cold world of skimo & alpine climbing

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

A reminder on crampon fitting....

Just got in two new pairs of boots as I get ready to go to Canada for 10 days of testing, photos and climbing.

I'll take 5 pairs of boots and 5 different crampons to climb in this trip as I attempt to see where I am at physically and mentally.

As I spend the evening fitting crampons this comment comes to mind,

"Precision crampon technique is impossible without a proper (perfect) fit of boot to crampon."
Jeff Lowe from the WATERFALL ICE video, 2005.


In other words, if your crampons won't stay on the boots first, without latching the binding, likely the crampon doesn't really fit your boot.

Finally some one gets (again) how it is suppose to be.  No tricks just a perfect friction fit.
Petzl Lynx on a Scarpa Phantom Ultra and no back binding.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dane
Just wondering if you have a list of which boots your looking to try?
I just bought the Baruntse but find them a bit big in volumn and wondering if anything new is coming out which may be less bulky.

Dane said...

Nothing new on boots. But I will be using my Baruntse again. They are a big boot as is the Spantik. There are several new Batura style boot, "1.5" boots that are promising, including the new Batura 2.0. They are all smaller in volume than a double but not as warm either.

More me using different crampons and getting pictures than anything new in boots.

Daniel Harro said...

Definently have has some issues fitting bionics to my wife's scarpa guide boots, got a pair of the new BD bails that are used on the Singer crampons and fit is. Inch better now, still not super amazing. Might try the Petzl bail next.

Ilan said...

Hey Dane,
Ive been reading your blog for quite some time and i just bought my first pair of boots, the Nepal Evos. Im just starting out and was wondering which crampons fit best with that boot?

Ian said...

I'm happy to see you getting back to climbing!

Dane said...

Thanks Ian! Lucky for you most any of them will fit your new Nepals. Petzl Lynx would be a great match up and give you lots of options for front point combos.

Trevor said...

Dane,
Have you had any issues with the asymmetrical shape of the new Lynxs? I have run into some issues fitting them on my Koflachs as well as my mild weather La Sportiva Trangos. Any advice?

Dane said...

Trevor I have heard they can be difficult on some boots. Just none of the boots I own it seems. Sorry I am not more help. May be someone else here has had a similar problem and can help?

Trevor said...

I have tried flipping the bars opposite of the cur of the boot and it seems to work ok but great, didn't know if anyone knows if petzl or some third party makes straight bars for petzl crampons

Ian said...

Dane, are you headed to Canmore?

Dane said...

Ian, I am. I'll be in the park 18Sat/ 25 Sat.

Send me a email @ rdburns@cnw.com if you want to meet up.

Ian said...

One thing I noticed is that the older heal pieces on the Dart/Dartwin and M10's don't have the rear upright wing. With the narrow heals of the LS boots the older Petzl heal piece isn't narrow enough for a compression fit. On the newer crampons the rear upright wing will prevent the crampon from being adjusted too small and also create a compression fit front to back.

I mixed and matched my Dartwins, flipped over bars, and now get a pretty good fit. No rattling or misalignment.

veronika said...

i followed your suggestion and replaced grivel bails (seriously! i kept getting those stupid loops caught on each other, especially on tight foot switches on mixed!) with petzl bails. never going back.
also, checked out new sportiva ski boots at vert fest yesterday. holy smokes - i might have to consider those for the next purchase! very light, ankle can be made very flexible, low-pro sole like a climbing rather a skiing boot. very impressive.

Anonymous said...

hey dane,just bought some scarpa 6000's(had to size up)and was worried about crampon compatibility as everyone seems to struggle with the narrow front,ive never seem anywhere ont tinterweb anybody fitting rambo's,i tried a pair on and they are pretty good,they fit the rocker perfect and there is only about 2-3mm of room each side of the curly thing each side of the front bail,the main front footprint is slightly offset but im pretty impressed with the fit.
i tried some g22's last year and hated them,i suffered bad calf and foot pain and they popped constantly,each to their own i suppose.
just thought i would let peeps know,information on here and other sites has let me make informed choices on gear so i thought its only right to contribute...!
cliff...