Kahtoola’s K10 Crampons are winter climbing crampons designed for footwear with versatile soles starting from path runners to soft-soled insulated climbing boots. Featuring a versatile leaf string and superlight Chromoly metal, the K10 Crampons weigh simply 21 ounces per pair (23.6 ounces with anti-balling skins), with burly 3/4 inch lengthy crampon enamel. While the K10s are crampons, they don’t require any particular coaching or footwear to make use of like a extra conventional mountaineering or mountain climbing crampon.
Specs at a Glance
- Weight: 23.6 oz/pair (with anti-balling skins)
- Crampon spikes: 10
- Spike size: 3/4″
- Material: Chromoly metal
The Kahtoola K10 is a serious step up in aggressiveness from Kahtoola MICROspikes or Hillsound Trail Crampons and is appropriate for thicker ice and packed snow the place you need the added management of a crampon as a substitute of impartial factors loosely related by chain hyperlinks. While they’re not appropriate for vertical ice-climbing, this type of building offers you the flexibility to climb higher-angle ice with deeper spike penetration for enhanced safety.
Styled as a full crampon, the K10 has 10 spikes organized in a standard crampon sample with 6 beneath the forefoot and 4 beneath the heel. These are related by an adjustable bar referred to as a leaf spring which flexes when strolling over uneven surfaces with soft-soled footwear or boots. In distinction, conventional mountaineering crampons are fairly inflexible and might solely be worn with heavy mountaineering boots with soles that don’t have any flex in anyway.
The leaf spring might be adjusted and not using a instrument making it handy to change between boots or path runners. This degree of footwear compatibility is just improbable as a result of it means you should utilize the identical crampon with completely different soft-soled footwear together with path runners, climbing boots, and even PAC boots.
The K10 has a quick-fit binding system that makes use of webbing to safe the back and front of your foot to the crampon. One strap runs excessive of your shoe/boot simply behind the toe kick and the opposite cups your heel within the rear binding by looping over the entrance of your ankle, with a small hook that attaches to your entrance laces to stop the webbing strap from driving up greater.
These two straps present a really safe and dependable binding between your footwear and the K10 crampon for climbing or path operating. The binding can be very comfy, particularly above the ankle, as a result of the quick-release buckle might be positioned to the facet of the foot fairly than the highest the place it will trigger extra friction and discomfort.
The K10 comes with anti-balling skins that forestall the buildup of snow and ice, referred to as balling, underfoot if you end up strolling by way of moist snow, water, or snowmelt. These are pre-cut artificial templates that match over the crampon spikes and weigh a fraction of what conventional crampon anti-balling plates weigh. If you turn between completely different footwear regularly, the skins get in the best way of the K10 leaf spring adjustment, however they’re straightforward to take off and put again on and current a minor inconvenience.
More Winter Traction Aids and Crampons
| Make / Model | Best For |
|---|---|
| Kahtoola Microspikes | Packed snow, icy trails |
| Hillsound Trail Crampon Ultra | Packed snow, icy trails |
| Hillsound Trail Crampons | Packed snow, icy trails |
| Black Diamond Distance Spikes | Packed snow, icy trails |
| Hillsound Trail Crampon Pro | Mixed ice, snow, and rock |
| Kahtoola K10 Crampons | Mixed ice, snow, and rock |
| Kahtoola KTS Crampons | Mixed ice, snow, and rock |
| Black Diamond Contact Strap Crampons | Non-technical mountaineering |
| Petzl Irvis FLexlock Crampons | Non-technical mountaineering |
| Petzl Leopard Flexlock Crampons | Non-technical mountaineering |
Recommendation
Kahtoola’s K10 Crampons are designed to be used with soft-soled path runners and boots and supply a major step up by way of traction over Kahtoola Microspikes or Hillsound Trail Crampons. They don’t require any instruments to resize and so they include snow-release skins to stop snow from balling up beneath the crampon, one thing that tends to occur when climbing on moist snow.
Disclosure: The writer bought this product.
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