UKC

Hi guys,

I have a pair of La Sportiva Napal Evo boots in size 8. I have a cheap pair of Mountain Technology walking C1 crampons at the moment. I am looking at purchasing a pair of G12 crampons for use on gullies and ridges in Scotland this winter and would also like to us them in the Alps next summer. Looking progressing to do grade 3/4 in them. I'm struggling to choose which bindings would be most suitable for me?

Has anyone got any advice for a newbie? I can't seem to find anything online which explains the pros and cons for each type of binding.

In reply to ste carey:

Either option will work and will perform beyond your intended use for them, so no worries there really, I would think about whether you intend to use them with different boots at any time as well as that could influence your decision meaning if you go for the toe basket type ( non crampomatic I think grivel call it although I could be wrong on that) then you can use them with a slightly softer boot as well as your nepal cubes depending on what you are doing. Your other option could be to look at a different crampon that can be attached differently as well ie petzel lynx then that expands your options further again.

In reply to ste carey:
I have G12's on my Nepals and have the Newmatic with the plastic toe bail.

I've never had a problem with it, they are easy and quick to put on and always seem very solid once on.

Never needed any adjustment either on Alpine days out or on Scottish up to grade V.

I would without hesitation have the same binding system again if I was replacing them, a friend uses the Crampomatics on hs G14's, again on Nepal's and the central toe bar that attaches to the strap seems to work its way around the side on occasions.

Also some good advice here

http://andy-kirkpatrick.com/articles/view/getting_the_right_crampon

In reply to ste carey:

Crampomatic bindings fit Nepal Evos very well. I've had them on both G12 and G14 for years. The option to be able to move them fore and aft to reveal more or less front point can be useful.

In reply to ste carey:
Get the newmatic binding I have both on my various crampons and it has various advantages:
- it's quicker to put on
- it doesn't bend, bail bars do and this generally reduces your front point protrusion over time.
- as your soles wear down your front point protrusion reduces using crampomatic crampons, I find g12 and g14 even moving the toe bail bar I end up with short front points. Rambos are more adjustable and it's less of an issue.
- with a good fit I find the newmatic binding actually has less play in it and is a more solid fit to the boot (easily verified by fitting it and trying to move it about by hand). It's almost impossible for newmatic binding to fall off the boot, I've seen crampomtics fall off mid pitch.

One thing I would mention is that I find g12 and g14 don't have the best front point protrusion. It's ok but I also have bd sabretooths which have a good cm or so longer points which I find is easier when climbing ice and sticks better in hard neve or soft snow When I've found g12 / g14 sometimes shear out. Conversely shorter points are better on mixed as they give you less,calf burn.

In reply to DaveHK:
I had crampomatic g14 on nepals and found even adjusting the bail bar the front point protrusion ended up being quite poor..

In reply to ste carey:

Why are you getting G12s? They are a heavy and clunky design that look pretty outdated these days.

I'd get Petzk Vasaks if I was currently shopping for mountaineering crampons. They come with a wire bail and a plastic bail as standard, allowing a good fit on everything from B2s to ski mountaineering boots. And they're a good deal lighter too.

Just a thought.

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

In soft snow and less than ideal ice I think mountaineering crampons are better and these conditions are regularly found in the U.K.. monos do start making mixed easier about tech 5 and dual vert points are better in hard water ice at around the same grade. Personally if I'm climbing under grade V I find the g12 design is the most versatile

In reply to CurlyStevo:

Hi Stevo,

I agree with what you've written above entirely.

Maybe you should check out the design of the Petzl Vasak:
http://www.rockrun.com/petzl-vasak-leverlock-universal?gclid=Cj0KEQjwhvbABR...

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:
Fair enough. I tried the vasaks on my nepals when I owned them and didn't like the fit but did like the look of the crampons. Often size of the boot can change the fit mine were 46 nepals.

In reply to ste carey:
Choosing crampons fit is very important. The sole of the boot should conform well to the crampon with no gaps long the length of the crampon, both in terms of the spread of the points distributed equaly left to right and not all on one side of the boot, and the crampon should be fully in contact with the sole without gaps. The front points should be forward and not pointing off to the side. With newmatic crampons you should be able to lift the boot up with out the crampon falling off without the heel clip being snapped on and without the toe bail bar strapped up.

I've not tried the g12 on Nepal evos but with the extremes which are very similar they do fit the boot very well and the points are long enough but a little on the short side once worn down a bit but still ok with the crampomatic binding.

In reply to ste carey:

Yet another one with Nepal Extremes and newmatic G12s, both now 15 or 16 years old. The first generation plastic on the binding was dodgy and snapped but Mountain Boot fixed mine for free incredibly quickly. I've since had it swapped again due to rivet corrosion, and again they wouldn't let me pay them! Super company.

Anyway it's a very solid combo that will do you well into quite hard climbing.

In reply to CurlyStevo:

The newmatic seems like the one for me.

I just need to find a friend with one to try on my boots.


Thanks everyone!

In reply to ste carey:

Hi Ste

I have size 8 Nepal gtx's not sure if the toe differs from the standard Nepals. In my experience the standard crampomatic toe bail was not the right profile and allowed the toe of the boot to drift about. This was fixed by the narrow bail from needlesports.

I have both newmatic g12s and crampomatic g14s. I find the newmatics easy to fit and forget and I do nt think you can go wrong. Whereas the crampomatic need more attention so see if they are fitted correctly.

On both pairs of crampons I do not fit the black plastic gaitor on the bar as there have been incidents where the gaitor has released the bar pin making the crampons loose.

HTH Davey

In reply to ste carey:
I've got the Nepal and G12 newmatic set up and also use them with my Scarpa Charmoz B2 boots in the Alps but I am looking at upping my grade and climbing more ice, so looking to either buy a pair of additional vertical point crampons or getting something more versatile like the Petzl lynx or Sarken as my G12's are a bit battered now
Petzl also do the option of swapping the front section and they are a lighter too