Reviews > Snow Gear > Crampons > Kahtoola Traction System - 2004 > David Anderson > Initial Report

Tester Information

I grew up car camping with my family in California, and started backpacking sometime around 5th grade. As an adult I've lived, worked and backpacked in New England, Colorado, Oregon and Washington. I've also gotten involved in sea kayaking in the last few years. My backpacking style could be described as light-heavyweight. I carry the lightest version of the gear that I believe is up to the task.

Since moving to Washington around 5 years ago, I have taken up snowshoeing in the North Cascades and the Olympic Mountains. The snowshoe trips are limited to winter and early spring, after which the snow either becomes quite icy or extremely slushy. After that I tend to hike with some sort of traction system for the icy conditions that I may come across on the trail, but I generally avoid going high enough to find more than a few patches of snow.

Product Info

Manufacturer: Kahtoola
Year: 2004
Size: Large

The Kahtoola KTS crampons are each made of three major pieces. The toe and heel pieces are each stamped out of aluminum alloy plate. Each foot has a total of ten 0.75 inch (2 cm) spikes that are bent straight down, six on the toe piece and four on the heel piece.

The heel and toe pieces are connected together with an extender bar. The extender bar is made out of two layers of stainless steel that are tack welded together only at the front, where the bar is also bent down at a 90 degree angle to form a stop. At the rear of the bar there are seven holes punched to allow for adjustable sizing. The bar slides through two guide slots on both the toe piece and the heel piece. Between the slots on the heel piece, there is a spring clip with a stud that goes through the holes in the extender bar allowing it to be set to the proper length.

The toe-strap attaches to the toe piece solidly at two points at the front, and at the rear of the toe piece it runs through D-rings that are attached to the toe piece with stainless steel straps to allow for different shoe widths. Where the straps cross over the top of the boot, there is a plastic strap guide to help hold them in place. The toe-strap is adjusted with a ladder-lock buckle.

Attached to the back of the heel piece is a heel support that folds down for stowing in the stuff sack. The heel support is made out of stainless rod that has been bent to contour around the heel of the boot around 2 inches (5 cm) up from the bottom of the boot. At the top of the heel support is a contoured plastic heel grip that also serves as a mounting point for the ankle-strap. The strap simply makes a loop around the ankle and connects with a side release buckle.

The stuff sack is made out of material that is heavy enough to protect other gear from the spikes. This is one place where I am glad that they didn't go lightweight.

Initial Impression

I found the Kahtoolas to be quite well made, and intuitive to set up. Even though they come with a detailed instruction sheet, I had them set up and on my boots before I even looked at the sheet. The only part that even slowed me down was the need to squeeze the sides of the heel support when lifting it from the stowed position.

The strap was a tight fit through the guide where it crosses over the toe, and it took a little effort to get it adjusted right, but after dealing with loose strap systems on some snowshoes, I considered this a good thing.

I first got to try out a single Kahtoola at the outdoor portion of the Outdoor Retailer Show. The snow that day was the sort where it really wasn't necessary to have any sort of traction device for just walking around, but when I got to the parking lot I discovered how well they work. Just walking on the ice, the foot with the Kahtoola never slipped, while the foot without slipped on just about every step. There was also an obvious difference while climbing the icy piles of snow that the plows left. Once the claws were solidly planted, they held extremely well.

Since receiving them I have had a chance to use them to help climb the snow berm left by the plows on a trip to Mt. Rainier. They were quite useful on the icy areas near the road. I was able to climb up and down safely without poles by just stamping either my toes or heels into the ice to make a nice, stable step.

Once I left the roadside I switched from the Kahtoolas to snowshoes because the snow was too deep and the floatation was necessary.

Test Plan

I will be bringing the Kahtoolas with me on all my snowshoe trips this spring and on any higher altitude hikes this summer. I usually avoid high altitude hikes in the early summer due to snow and ice on the trails, but this test series will give me a good excuse to consider some of those hikes earlier in the season.

While snowshoeing, I will use the Kahtoolas whenever the snow is hard enough to support my weight, or shallow enough so that it doesn't really matter. I will also be using them to climb over the berms of icy snow that the plows leave beside the road.

In the nearby Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges, with their coastal influence, we usually get snow with a high water content that tends to set up pretty hard within a few says of falling. In these sorts of conditions, I often find myself taking off my snowshoes and walking (and slipping) along on top of the snow and ice because it is easier on my feet. I will be interested to see how well the Kahtoolas perform in this situation. Are they easy on my feet while still providing sufficient traction?

On my backpacking trips, the Kahtoolas will be used to cross snow and ice fields that can hang around through the entire summer in many years. Depending on the weather, these can be either icy chunks or big piles of slush. While they can offer some obvious advantages with the icy conditions, I am quite interested in seeing how they will perform in the slush.

While testing, I will be considering their ease of use, fit, traction and durability.

David Anderson
squtch.quiet-like-a-panther.org

Reviews > Snow Gear > Crampons > Kahtoola Traction System - 2004 > David Anderson > Initial Report