Fritschi Diamir Ski Crampon

Good in flat "walk" mode...not so good in "incline" mode. Lost most of the grip of the cramp on climbs. I think that is why I have them...to climb mountains right?

I purchased these crampons for sking the Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt, and used them on several steep icy traversing climbs. They worked quite well. I do not use the heal lifters on the bindings very much anyway, because it feels more secure to get my heal down on the ski and the crampons dug in in difficult conditions, but I am kind of an old timer. I did not notice any other binding/ crampon combos that did not have the same heal lifter / crampon bite conflict. I put them in a bag in my pack for carrying, didn't seem to be much of a problem.

These crampons suffer from a design flaw that renders them fairly useless. If your heel lift is engaged the teeth won't dig into the snow, because the crampon itself fits over the rail that connects the binding's toe piece and heel piece. Voile makes a ski crampon that attaches directly to the ski - a significantly better option. It's more expensive, but you won't be wasting your money.

I just climbed Mt Shasta in them trying to keep them on for as long as possible before switching to regular crampons. The fact that you absolutely can't use your risers on even moderately steep sections sucks a lot. I ended up doing hundreds of switchbacks on the icy slopes and it was very unpleasant. I would have saved lots of energy and time if I just took my skis off. So, I'm not sure what the purpose of these crampons is...

Listen to "built to hike" and "ahay" . This product bites big time. I'm glad to hear others drilled holes in them for cord carry also. Fritchi should be doing the job that garage tinkerers are doing now. On any real ascent, you will be in your two highest settings and the teeth on the crampon do not cut it! I am looking to modify it into a fixed crampon (Petzl style) ahead of the toe. If your binding allows it, buy the voile fixed crampon.

The downfall of the crampons if that they attach under the boot and rise and fall with your foot. This is fine on an easy grade, but any attempt on a moderate to steep grade your faced with difficulty. You are not able to set your risers up (because then the teeth will not penetrate the ground effectively) and therefore to climb at a steeper angle your body has to be in an awkward, crouched over, less secure bend that takes an unnecessary amount of energy. With that said, unless your sticking to easy flat terrain, consider another option or plan to custom alter them to work for more diverse backcountry terrain.

Imagine climbing up a steep icy slope, just hanging on with the ski crampons, then it gets really icy and you start to slip. WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU DO?? If you take off the crampons you fall. If you turn around you will fall. Very difficult to back down a slope.....This is what happened to me. I had to dig a hole in the ice and flee. Cool looking, durable, funky, looked good on the pack and I got plenty of glances from other tourers but really I should have used real boot crampons and not these strange substitutes. Buy them for a easy ride to serious trouble.

Used them on a steep and icy climb to a 10th Mountain hut and they were bomber! I put them in a storage bag and attached them to my pack - no problem for the carry.

A necessity for steep skintracks ski touring in the Alps. The easiest way to carry them is to drill a small (3/16") hole and thread them with parachute cord, then clip them to the waistbelt of your back so they are easy to get to when you need them.

I FIND THESE CUMBERSOME TO CARRY. A FRIEND OF MINE DRILLED A HOLE IN THE TOP FOR EASE OF CARRYING. I RECOMMEND MANUFACTURER THINK OF SOMETHING LIKE THIS BEFORE ASKING CUSTOMER TO IRREPARABLY CHANGE CONSUMER PRODUCT FOR PRACTICALITY. THAT SAID, ITS A NECESSARY ITEM IN SPECIFIC CONDITIONS AND FOR SKI MTNEERING. I BELIEVE THEY WORK BETTER THAN THE OLD DYNAFIT TLT CRAMPONS WHICH JUST DRAG ON THE GROUND WHEN MAKING FORWARD PROGRESS.

Ski crampons should be required gear for any steep traversing skintrack. They greatly enhance security in such situations. The only drawback of the Fritschi design is that you have to exit the binding to attach the crampon, so best to figure you that you'll need the crampons before you're suddenly on steep terrain and have to do some tricky moves to exit and then reenter the binding. The other problem is finding a convenient way of carrying them in your pack, try threading some shock cord through the small holes in the crampon for an external attachment approach. If you have the most recent generation of Diamir bindings though, you might want to consider the newer Axion crampon, which can be affixed yet not deployed until you actually need it.

The fit isn't the best, requires a bit of force to get it to engage, but I think a few minutes in the shop bending and filing is likely all that is needed to get a good fit.