MICROspikes

MICROspikes turn the season most hikers avoid into ordinary walking. Twelve stainless points per foot on a steel chain harness stretch over a trail runner or a boot in about fifteen seconds, and they bite packed snow, frozen dirt, and the boilerplate ice that forms on north-facing switchbacks. The chains and welds are the reason they have held their position while cheaper spike systems come and go. They stop where real ice begins. The points are short, so this is traction and not a crampon; on steep hard alpine ice or anything needing front-pointing they will skate, and that is a serious limit to respect. There are no anti-balling plates, so in warm wet snow you will stop repeatedly to knock platforms off your feet. The elastomer harness stiffens in deep cold and is the part that eventually tears, especially if you walk long stretches of bare rock. At 320 grams and a premium price, that is a lot to carry speculatively.