UKC

Hi. I find the normal leg straps on leverlock style crampons a right pain. In part this is because I need to find my reading glasses just to thread the buckle. I have tried leaving them done up, but things tend to get a bit twisted. And even then one has to do a series of knots to get rid of the tail.

I see that petzl now do an alternative. A fixed length elastic strap, with plastic buckled. 

Anyone have experience of these? Best thing since sliced bread, or....

And, Anyone know where I can get some, quickly. The only suppliers I can find are not uk based.

Thanks!

With regards to the length, you can just cut them to desired length and then singe the end with a lighter. Works fine

Just don’t do what I did. I cut them just a little bit too short. And the price for the straps is exorbitantly high. 

I very recently got mine in 3 days from TradeINN via Amazon after climbing with a chap who had them & said they were fine. Keeping the original long straps in the unlikely case I convert to baskets on the front 

I climbed with someone on Saturday who had new crampons with this attachment. There was some hilarity on the first pitch, which he seconded with one crampon dangling from his ankle strap. So the buckle definitely works, for crampon jettison prevention purposes at least. He secured them at the belay and led the next pitch no issues. He hasn't used them enough yet to decide if he prefers them.

As for the rethreaded buckles, cutting the straps down as others have mentioned saves a lot of time. A "gloved handful" of strap through the buckle is long enough to be secure, easy to tighten, doesn't need to be knotted and (if you get the buckle in the right place) can be removed with one pull of the buckle release tag.

Have you tried practicing threading the buckle blind but by feel? Admittedly much harder with thick gloves...

I added some to my Petzl Irvis Hybrids for ski mountaineering and have found them to be an improvement and easy to use especially when the crampons might be on and off a few times in a short period.

The only criticism I have is the buckle might be quite awkward to use with big gloves but the same can be said for any buckle I guess.

Mine were purchased from Cairngorm Mountain Sports in Aviemore who look like they still stock them.

Thanks everyone. 

The reason I haven't cut them so far is that if you don't cut them, and don't fully undo them one can avoid having to rethread them. But as I said I sometimes end in a tangle when putting them back on

Just to report back. I got the elasticated plastic clip solution and tested for a week in the alps.

They are a neat solution. Not as robust, but quick; work with gloves. Quick to fit to the crampons in the first place.  Not as robust.  

The only issue is that the buckle is very small and tends to freeze up. One can still remove the crampon, as the strap is elastic. But a bigger buckle would have helped.

As others have said, you need to cut the straps down to the right length and singe the ends. 

Everything needs practice, especially with gloves so if you're struggling you just haven't done it enough times

And... have you tried this?  youtube.com/watch?v=0ZADuModVtg&

It may help you out 

Thanks Sam.

I'm reasonably well practiced. Just long sighted. With bear hands i can fit crampons with eyes shut. With thick gloves on it is a bit tough. (Petzl buckles are really small these days compared to the big double rings of old.) Hence I've been playing with leaving the straps long and never completely pulling the straps through the buckles when removing the crampons. This works fine, but leaves long tails to deal with. Hence my interest in other systems. 

That video was brilliant. I'm using crampons with a front bail, so not for me, but I will share with others. Thanks again.