I fell on my backside last week in the icy conditions and was lucky not to break an arm. I landed hard but luckily just had a badly grazed elbow & bruised thigh.
Has anyone thought about making some basic DIY crampons for walking use. I've been thinking about it the past few days ( see below * ).
I looked at the prices for crampons - and being that I would use them little - thought about how to make my own. To buy they were £150 - £200.
Also, the commercial ones, have those BIG spikes at the front to use when ice climbing a vertical face.
I wont be ice climbing I just want my feet to stay put on horizontal ice when walking.
Someone ( a mountain climber ) at work today suggested Gravel Spiders for walking use, they attach to boots/shoes but it looks to me that they only go under the heel. They are quite cheap though but I wonder about pressing forward on the ball of your foot when walking.
- my ideas below - all difficult to explain.
1./ Draw the outline of the sole of your shoes onto a piece of, say, half inch ply. Cut the ply, 2 for each foot, 4 in all. Drill the ply, one for each foot, to take sturdy nails and so that the nail head will be against the ply. Cut and re spike the bit of the nail that will protrude below the ply to, say, half an inch. Buy some leather straps to go round your shoe and the other piece of ply for that foot. ( Maybe ) route a grove for the strap in each foots other piece of ply. From the spiked side of the nailed ply screw the ply to the other piece of ply for that foot which has the grooves for the straps. The 2nd piece of ply stops the nails being pushed upwards by your weight when walking. Strap them to your shoes and walk.
2./ Same as above but instead of making the nailed spike boards use those 'top of wall' plastic spiky things you can buy and screw them to the strap boards. Less ply to shape and no nails to cut and resplike.3./ Buy some of that cable mounting metal stuff that's about 4 inches wide and has multiple mounting holes along its length. ( What's it called ). Cut to the length of your shoe. Use an ANGLE GRINDER to form spikes on its upturned flanges. Bend the non spiked part of the flanges flat to its width so they don't interfere with the spikes. Use the multiple mounting holes to find a way to strap to your shoes.
Any DIY crampons need to be easily removable for when not on ice.
C'mon folks - share any other ideas you have.
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