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Aneirin -> RE: Ice/snow cleats (11/4/2010 4:14:19 AM)
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Out of sheer urgency for my mother and sister with first born last year with their momentous and long lasting freeze I sent a couple of pairs of Swedish Yngsjöbrodden to them via ebay. At first they just thought I was a nut sending something like that, typical me thinking practicality before what others might think, but my concern for my mother was that she is kind of frail but determined and had had new knees and did not want to wreck them by slipping on the ice, my sister had the first born of the family only a couple of months old. The first I heard was my mother had been seen confidently trekking up the road complete with a pair of walking poles and the Yngsjöbrodden strapped to her feet, not one jot of a comment regarding public appearance. In fact she was seen by many and commended on being able to walk as if normal on sheet ice whereas everyone else was on their ass or clinging to boundary walls to stay upright as they tried to make their way in the freeze.
Then came our turn for the freeze and where I got the Yngsjöbrodden was sold out, completely, near on a thousand pairs in less than a week, so no cleats for me, but me being a nut I did what I did the past, screwed quarter inch self tapping screws into the sole of my boots and went on to do the same with the block tread on my mountain bike, so no slipping for me, the nut was carrying on as normal. But I am an ex mountaineer with much experience of ice climbing and trekking on the cold white slippy stuff, to keep going whatever the weather I just dress appropriately and where the most grippiest grip in the outdoors fails due to ice, then find something that beats ice, crampons or ice cleats.
Ice cleats of all the various designs are cheap to buy, very cheap in comparison to the damage caused by slipping on ice, but not expensive to buy anyway and they work so if not slipping on ice is the desire, yeah get them, they are worth their weight in gold when the need arises, I know them from the past and now half of my family now know them from last winter and we all agree they are invaluable. I am going to get myself a pair of ice cleats very soon, long before the ice if it comes this year, as I need to get down to the pub without breaking my neck.
The type I am after ;
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Anti-Slip-Shoe-Grips-Ice-Cleats-Spikes-Snow-Gripper_W0QQitemZ130444736385QQihZ003QQcategoryZ63850QQcmdZViewItem
I have experience of this type from the past and they are like leeches on ice.
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