Which Ice Cleat

[red911sc]

Our driveway is fairly steep 2 years ago I slid down it (imagine surfing on my shoes) until I reached the change in grade at the bottom and then it was a $ $ holes and elbows seemingly about 5 feet in the air. All of this was fun until it ended when I came to an abrupt stop on the ground. The result 2 broken ribs and a torn rotator cuff. I kept telling myself I need to buy a pair of slip on ice cleats but procrastination has always won. Tonight I fell again, I think I fared better than before but my head does hurt from the impact on the back of it. So a quick search yields Yaktrax and Stabilicers - are these any good? Any others that I should consider? Any hands down winners? TIA

[gtc]

I have the stabilicer lites. They are fine for walking around on flat to lightly sloped surfaces, and nice and easy to put on and take off. Pretty good traction too. I used them on a slippery shake roof, and they gripped well, but one almost came off my shoe and I nearly fell off the roof.
If you are going up anything really steep, buy something with real straps.

[porsche4life]

I bought the stabilicers as well... I haven't used them much though....


I've looked at the yaktrax and they seem like they would make traction worse....

[Tom '74 911]

I bought my wife some YakTrax for Christmas. She loves them and they do work great. We live in "6 months of winter" Idaho so they've been tested. Just make sure to get the right size for whatever shoes you'll wear them with.

Tom

edit: the YakTrax come in 2 versions. If you're concerned about them coming off, get the one w/the strap.

[mossguy]

Either one will be better than what you have been using.

Best,
Tom

[widgeon13]

yaktrax are very good, used them for many years now and never fallen with them on, even on glare ice. I use them to walk on the lake before the snow comes and it's, well, glare ice. Wouldn't start winter w/o them.

[schwarz633]

My wife bought the Yaktrax Pros for walking the dog and they lasted about a week. The metal coils wore down first, then the rubber that the coils are wrapped around. She does walk about 1.5 hours a day on paved streets, so that's probably pretty severe duty. Now she just bought a pair of DueNorth with 6 replaceable tungsten carbide spikes on each foot. They appear to be more durable for use on pavement.

[Head416]

I've looked at these for hiking in ice... when I finally buy some it will be a style where the part you're walking on is 100% metal. I've been eyeing these.

[island911]

Originally Posted by mossguy

Either one will be better than what you have been using.

Best,
Tom

+1

I use Stabilicers . . . just because there wasn't much else available when I bought them. Now Costco has some Chinese knock-off for 25% the price. (they don't appear to have the same quality tho' - surprise.)

[porsche4life]

Grivel G-12 New-Matic Crampons with Antibott Device at REI.com


Quit screwing around and get those!

[schwarz633]

My wife just took the dog on a walk with her new Duenorth cleats. They were both gone by the time she got back home. No strap, FAIL.

[teenerted1]

Originally Posted by schwarz633

My wife just took the dog on a walk with her new Duenorth cleats. They were both gone by the time she got back home. No strap, FAIL.

did you find the dog yet?