Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Crampon Advice

Planning on hiking to Trail Camp on 10/22 and an early summit attempt on 10/23 and looking for some advice on what crampons to bring on this hike. I've done the one day MWT on a perfect September day last year and also done Mt. Shasta in two feet of fresh snow this past May. If the weather is bad that day I have no issue with not going for the summit as I'm just trying to prepare for Mt.Rainier next June. My question is regarding the right type of crampons for this time of the year. I've heard good and bad things about instep crampons as an alternative to mountaineering boots and C2 crampons.

Is anyone familiar with the product listed below or have a better suggestion on what to bring in two weeks. I realize a lot can change in the next two weeks and I plan on watching the weather everyday. Thanks

http://www.basegear.com/kahtoola-kts-aluminum-crampons.html

Kahtoola KTS Aluminum Ice Cleats - Crampons
Item Code: KA-KTSALUM

If you are going to spend $129 I'd go for something you can use on Rainier later.

http://www.rei.com/search?query=crampons&button.x=0&button.y=0

Those aluminum points are great so long as you stay away from the mixed media. If you stomp on rocks you can break or bend and certainly dull the aluminum points.

Baring a major ice age or significant storm you will mostly be concerned around the cables. If you think you need crampons, I'd stay away from the aluminum even though they are powerfully compelling considering they probably float.

I'm going to guess they are popular around or behind a snow mobile.

I'm not a big fan of aluminum crampons where you're likely to encounter mixed conditions - i.e., snow, ice and rock. They don't hold up well on rock.

On the REI link Steve Peacock listed, the Black Diamond Contact Strap is a good all around crampon that will also work on Rainer. For a bit less aggresive crampon, look at the same Stubai model you listed, only in steel. It's about $5 more, plus a few more ounces - http://www.basegear.com/kahtoola-kts-steel-crampons.html

They're not quite as aggressive at the BD's, and I probably wouldn't take them up Rainer, but as a general alpine crampon I have several friends who like them for the light weight.

If you are going to get the BD Contacts, you might want to just step up (hrm, pun) and get something with 12 points so you could take them up Rainier as well.

Part of what will dictate what crampon you bring will be what kind of footwear you plan to use.

Those Kahtoola's might work well for Whitney but you won't want them for Rainier. You'll want to use a beefier set of crampons for Rainier.

The above mentioned BD Contact is a good crampon and pretty readily available. They'll work for Rainier too. Strap on crampons will fit more types of boots than clip on's will.

In case someone mentions Grivel's on this thread they are currently not available in the US. Whatever stores have in stock is it for a while until someone else decides to distribute them in North America. I think the exchange rate from US $$ to Euro's made it too difficult to do business.

Thanks for all the great advice. I live in San Antonio, Texas and there are not a lot of mountains to train on around here and good advice is hard to come by.

I'm hoping the weather will hold for another two weeks and there won't be a need to use the crampons. I'm planning on doing this climb solo and I'm sure not looking to go sliding off the side of the mountain!!! (I hope even saying that is not bad karma).

I can't give you any advice about crampons but I can tell you it is definately NOT bad Karma to say that you hope something bad doesn't happen. Karma is kind of like your spirtual bank account.If you do good things then good things happen to you. If you do bad things then bad thing happen to you.You reap what you sow.
What you are reffering to is that you hope you don't jinx yourself by saying that you hope you don't slide off the mountain and that well is just kind of silly.
Good luck.

Kahtoola does not list them as crampons but as traction system. The retailer takes that license.

As Kurt says, they might work at Mt. Whitney...as long as you stay on the trail. The Kahtoola do not have enough bite for higher angle things.

I like steel because I usually end up on rock and in the dirt.

Thanks for the heads up, Kurt!!! The Grivel Air Tech lights were on my Christmas list this year (Dave approved). Guess I'll have to treat myself to another gear purchase and try to immediately locate a pair at one of the local stores/shops in my area.

I used Vasak Flexlock crampons by Petzl in mixed snow/ice/rock and although they are not the lightest, they held up great and the points are still looking good (and relatively sharp, considering). You can strap them on non-mountaineering boots.