Black Diamond Xenic Ski Crampons
Pickup available after free transfer to Aspen
In French we call them couteaux and in Spanish we call them cuchillos, in other words, 'blades'! When the melt/freeze cycle kicks in for spring touring, there are a few ways for us to get up those steep pitches to access the goods: we can throw our skis on our backs, put crampons on our feet and walk... we can put in that uber-steep, straight-up-the-gut skin track and hope our skins hold, or we can affix some simple ski crampons!
These Black Diamond Xenic ski crampons work in the same way as the tried-and-true Dynafit models, you remove you ski and slide the crampon in behind the toe of your binding. On the skin track, you'll bring the angle down a bit, do a little more sidehilling, and take advantage of the lateral purchase that these tools afford.
Once you give ski crampons a try on a firm morning skintrack, you'll never go back to the 'hopes and prayers' method of getting to the ridgeline!
They come in three widths: 85mm, 95mm, and 105mm and weigh in at around 50g.