Everything you need to know about Crampons??? // DAVE SEARLE 

I bought the Irvis Hybrid crampons earlier this year in large part due to your recommendation. I used them on my climb of Mt Baker in northern Washington and they performed beautifully with my La Sportiva Trango GTX boots. I'll be using them in a lot of ski touring here in the Wasatch Mountains this winter and I expect that they'll perform great here as well.

Great video Dave - content just gets better all the time!

I liked your video but a few thoughts... Other manufacturers offer as much customization if not more than Petzl crampons, e.g. Grivel's G22 +. I climbed for a long time with the Petzl Lynx - general mountaineering, ice and mixed along with long Alpine routes. They can and will get you up almost anything. My biggest issue with the crampons and Petzl in general is their metal... it's not the best. Which is why I switched to the Grivel G22 + & G20 + , you can buy armored steel front points which outlast and exceed the performance of Petzl front points. They're also lighter (I know the competition for the Lynx is the G14 and not the G22 +). The armored steel penetrates ice considerably better and can take heavy abuse from rock for longer periods without sharpening which makes their weight worth in gold for multi-day Alpine climbs with lots of mixed climbing. I still use the Lynx, but they're usually my backups. The biggest con about the armored front points Grivel makes is sharpening, they're incredibly hard so you need a special type of file. I also switched from Quarks and Nomics to North Machines and Dark Machines because of the armored metal picks Grivel makes. However, these picks have a thicker front tip which displaces ice more than the Petzl picks. So I generally climb ice with the Quarks and Nomics but if there's lots of rock or pure dry tooling I go with the Dark Machines or North Machines depending on the difficulty of the route.

Very informative video, I use the Cassin crampons(The Alpinist, Alpinist Pro & the Alpinist Tech)I find myself using the Alpinist & the Alpinist Tech the most. Like Petzl, you can interchange the main forward sections. I find this really useful. I'll probably switch to Petzl after these have no safe life in them. I love my Cassin crampons and the brand in general, but I'll have to switch to Petzl eventually purely because it's getting harder to source parts here in Scotland.

Thanks!

Well done fella, great video, great advice, I'm a follower now

Moving to Svalbard and looking for a good multipurpose setup for mostly snow and glacier walking, and some occasional ice climbing. Wondering if the Irvis front plate would feel too short in size 45 / BSL 312mm ski boots? Thinking of getting the Lynx + Irvis Hybrid + Grivel Long flex bar. If the Irvis front is too short, I'll get the Vasak instead.

I’m here for the cat interludes

Not bad for a beginner . Explain ice and snow and steepness for different styles and techniques for each .

hello Dave, do you have the reference of the leach to buy at schnell sports ? I will pop in one of these days. TES

Hi Dave, do you have a crampon recommendation for a splitboarder thats touring with softboots? Im guessing a set of crampons with a full plastic back as snowboard boots do not have the ridge on the back. but do you have any experience or knowledge about this specifically? any model or brand you would recommend or perhaps there is a crampon made for snowboarding boots? thanks for the reply!

I'm super happy with the purchase of my semi-auto vasak crampons, but i got in truble while using them cause of the tip of my boots (la sportiva trango) sliding in to the front basket and getting the back end loose. Especially when kicking in hard snow they tend to have this bad behaviour and I still haven't figured out how to solve this problem. Anyone else had this problem and found a good solution? P.s. Sorry for my poor english😅😅

Will the petzl dart be a good all arounder/do it all crampon?

Buckles on the inside.. if you do it right they wont be in the way.. once set up they stay set up

Hey Dave, just FYI, if you’re assessing different crampon brands while at the same time being sponsored by one brand, it makes your assessment irrelevant.

“You guessed it were talking about crampons” well yeah thats why i clicked on the video about crampons lol

I was interested in knowing if the PETZL lynx would work with the La sportiva G2 evo and if not what crampons would you recommend?

Loved that you were upfront on the the sponsorship. Great vids, great vibes, good inspiration... I'm hooked Keep up the great work

This just popped into my recs, that replacement buckle system for the straps looks amazing, I'm ordering those right now

What is your favorite crampon/ski touring boot combination for technical climbing in ski boots?

Good stuff dave, Thanks for sharing.

@davesearle - have you ever tried srlharpening the dulled point?

What is your opinion on having both the vasak and irvis? Are they too similar of a crampon? I recently bought the vasaks, but am considering returning them and exchanging them for the irvis for the weight and foldability factor. Or is the durability factor of the vasaks worth keeping them? I am looking for a universal mountaineering crampon (i mostly do skimo)

What do you think of the petzl leopard? I'm doing my first hut to hut ski tour this winter (Silvretta) and need to get some crampons. I was thinking of the leopard as they won't see much use and are the lightest. Would I be better with the irvis hybrid based on what you said about anti balling plates?

could you suggest crampons that are compatible with "la sportiva olympus mons cube"

Couldn't I sharpen the wornout teeth with a file?

keep sharing Dave, you are top class!

Spikes point down into ice , not into calves . Attach correctly and firmly.

Nice cat

Awesome! Thank you!

If you're clambering over rocks, is there a risk that the string on the Irvis type of crampon will snap & the front portion of the crampon drop off?