Kahtoola Microspikes

Sophie brought these for me from Germany a few days ago and I could lay my hands on them on Friday (7th April, 2017) when we met at our club. I have yet to use them, so writing a review right now is not possible. I want to write down the whys and hows first. And then write a review, if at all I get a chance to use them during my forthcoming Roopkund trek. I got them for €65 (each € costs Rs 71 now which is approximately Rs 4500). In Indian Amazon it would have cost me Rs 11,000.

Roopkund trek in May/June involves some amount of walking through snow. The trekking agency mentioned that they would provide "microspikes" if necessary. That was the first time I learnt the term. As I subsequently discovered these are like snow chains that drivers put on their tyres while driving in serious snow. Apparently it gives them good traction. In fact in Raid de Himalaya carrying this in your boot is obligatory. While snow chains for cars are just chains, microspikes, as the name suggests have spikes with the chain. They are somewhat less technical than crampons and meant principally for hikers, not mountaineers.

After some amount of googling, I realised that Kahtoola, an American company, makes the best microspikes in the world. With no traction under the boot in Chadar I had a few falls and the first one of them cost me a hairline fracture on my wrist from which I am yet to recover after more than a year. So I know how important it is to have traction under the boots when you are walking on snow or ice. Of course Roopkund will neither have smooth ice like a frozen river nor will I be wearing gumboots like in Chadar. But if the hiking agency itself is suggesting microspikes, I might as well explore the options of getting my own equipment. Because one never knows what quality of equipment I will get from them. And if things go right for me, I see myself going for more such treks in future where I will need this sort of traction.

After a lot of thinking this way and that, I asked Sophie to find out if any shop in Gelsenkerchen might have these things so that Mampu could buy them and bring them over from her Germany trip.  She will be coming back just a couple of days before I leave for Roopkund. After some back and forth conversation, it was decided that since Sophie was coming to Calcutta in a few days she would buy them right away online. If they didn't arrive before her departure she would send them to Mampu during her stay in Germany and she could bring them over for me. Otherwise she herself would bring. 

She asked me for size and I said medium. She asked for colour and I said red :-) The other option is black. The trigger was pulled. 

The item arrived in Sophie's house in two days, much to her surprise. And after a few days she came to Calcutta and here I am with my latest toy. 

My First Impression

The microspikes come in a small pouch. They have very thoughtfully given a white band kind of space on it for you to write your name with a marker pen :-) The pouch with the equipment does not weigh too much but it is made of apparently strong synthetic cloth which hopefully will be durable enough for the well made spikes (there will be 24 of them inside). The website says 338 gm for the medium size. Of course at 16,000 feet even 3 gms more would feel like a lot of weight but I think I should be able to manage this additional weight in my sac. The size of the tote bag with the spikes inside is, according to their website, about 5"x3"x2". You could actually put the bag in your pocket also. By the way, on the Kahtoola website the pouch is priced at $10 !!! In captain Haddock's language "ten thousand blistering barnacles". The pouch is made in Taiwan, if that helps ;-)

The first time I put the spikes on at CRC (I was wearing my Quechua Forclaz 500), I found the rubber harness to be a little hard to stretch. But that became easier with each subsequent attempt. The  wonderfully informative Kahtoola website has a video on how to wear them. It's pretty intuitive and easy. But it took me some time to find out which side is front and which one back. The easiest way to remember this is to remember that the brand name should be on your toes so that someone looking at it from the front can read it and the size mark (M for me) is engraved on the heel side.

Talking about size, the Kahtoola website is very user friendly and has all the information about size. I realised that as per their suggestion I could either go for small or medium. Then I found it is mentioned that in such cases where you are between two sizes you have to decide what type of shoes you will be putting them on. If on sneakers then go for the smaller size. If on hiking boots then go for the bigger size. That's the reason why I chose size M for me. They were fine on the hiking boot. I will check them out on my Timberland which is as good as a pair of sneakers.

As I found, there are some eight spikes towards the front of the foot which remain under the front foot (from the ball of your foot up to the bridge). Under the heel there are four spikes. These two are linked by chains that run under the bridge of the foot. The spikes are made of heat treated stainless steel. The chains are stainless steel too. I believe the model that I got is the latest one which has a few minor improvements that make it more durable. Good for me. 

One thing that the website talks about with pride and many reviewers mention it too is that the design of the spikes is such that the snowballing effect is minimised. That is, snow does not get a chance to accumulate under the feet and make the feet more slippery.

Talking about reviews, this youtube video review might make your jaws drop :-)

Proof of the pudding is in the eating. I have to eat the pudding in the high Himalayas and then give an opinion. 

Comments After Roopkund Trek (June 2017)

We had to wear the microspikes before we started for the Roopkund push at 3:45 am from Bhogwa Basa. Everyone in our group was given Kahtoola, leaving me much impressed by India Hikes' attention to detail and choosing the world's best equipment. Trek The Himalaya had given very local, hand made kind of microspikes to its trekkers.

I was a little apprehensive about wearing them right away because we would encounter snow only after some distance from the camp. I was worried that it will not only potentially spoil the spikes, the risk of slipping on the rocky trail was also high. But soon enough I realised my apprehensions were not well founded.

I do not know what to say about the microspikes in terms of criticism or appreciation because I have never worn anything else to be able to do any comparison. It is wrong however to think that Kahtoola does not lead to snowballing. Snowballs were indeed forming under the foot and I was shaking them off with my trek pole. Being thin the poles weren't quite up to the job though.

I did slip my footing a few times, particularly during the downhill climb back to the camp. But that was perhaps due to my inability to stamp into the snow with my heel really hard. It was the altitude that left me energy sapped. I didn't have much strength in my legs. Also I think I was stamping the wrong way, in the sense, I was using the absolute back tip of the heel. I think I should have used more the ball of the heel than the edge.

I will check it out on some later Himalayan descent.

Do I think I would have been better off with them on Chadar? I think so. Do I want to go to Chadar again with the microspikes? Perhaps yes. But after a few years. And if I do I want to have a better pair of gumboots.