These are excellent crampons for general glacier and snow travel. The horizontal frame resists snow balling, the design is semirigid with the same effect, the length of the crampon as well as the strap is easily adjustable to fit most boots (an optional extended bar can be obtained for Sasquatch types), and only one strap and one bail need be fiddled with to put these on, an advantage in cold weather. Mine are the older versions without the microadjustable heel bail, which I'm told can let loose at inopportune times. This could be fixed if the manufacturer put some kind of detents in the adjusting knob. I've used these directly on plastics as well as on overboots, and all I had to do was cut out some of the insulation in the heel of the overboots so the bail would catch. Even if the heel bail went, I believe the rest of the toe straps would keep the crampon on the boot enough to keep it from coming completely off and becoming lost down the slope. A very nice product. Well thought out.

Similar Products Used:

SMC hinged crampons (need too much fiddling to put on and adjust); GAB hinged crampons (easily adjustable in length, not so in width, need a Phillips and nut driver to do the width, as well as spare metric hardware; had problems keeping them on overboots with just the straps and shortening the crampon, since the closed cell foam of the overboots tended to force the crampon off the boot; would probably work better if instead of shortening the crampon, I'd lengthened it so that only the straps kept it on.)

The Charlet Moser S-12 is perhaps the difinitive modern mountaineering crampon. All other mountaineering crampons are variations on this basic design, but none exeeds it's perfect balance in giving the climber the confidence to be sure-footed over such a wide range of alpine snow, ice, and rock.

All crampons are a compromise between the disparate demands of climbing frozen snow vs. climbing vertical waterfall ice. Specialized crampons designed for climbing the latter are rigid, have vertical front points and long secondary points. The S-12 is semi-flexible, has horizontal front points and shorter secondary points, as befits its status as an all-terrain crampon. This makes the S-12 easier to walk in, and gives better grip in glacier ice, slush, and soft snow. Still, the points are narrow enough that the S-12 climbs ice relatively well.

The rapid-fix model has a heel bail that greatly simplifies putting them on, and also levers the crampon more solidly to the boot than a pure strap-on configuration can.

The S-12 has horizontal side rails, which is an advantage when descending in sticky melting snow, since it tends to resist the dreaded "balling up" of snow beneath your feet. Crampons with vertical side rails tend to grab snow like a cookie cutter grabs dough. This is a dangerous condition on a tired descent.

I recommend spending another 30 bucks for rubber anti-balling plates, which are available to fit this model. It takes the S-12's inherent advantages and makes it almost impossible for snow to ball up.

I've used these crampons all over the world, in all kinds of conditions. My s-12's have never let me down, even in conditions where partner's crampons were giving them trouble. If you can only buy one pair for every type of climb, these are the pair to buy.

I have used this crampons from Mount Washington to a telephone poll in my front yard. They are very well made!!! They are the best crampons for any type of mountains except maybe something like waterfall ice. I have the anti snow plates and recommend them to everyone especially when dealing with wet snow. I love the bail in the back and the straps in the front, it is a great combo.

Customer Service

I tried ordering these online from two different companies that I have done business with before. These businesses are very reliable and I still believe this to be even after they both sent me the wrong system. One sent me the sep ins and the other company sent me the all straps. You MUST be very specific in which system you want. I eventually had my local gear company order them for me.

Similar Products Used:

Stubai Trekking Universal, Black Diamond Sabretooths.