More on crampons, this time from Joe Palma

Joe Palma? The early Polar Circus topo wasJoe's work. He has been around.



Ya just gotta love a guy who is well on the way to winning the gear war by attrition :)



"Dane,

I'm going to try to sit down with all myboots/crampons this weekend, fit them stock and modified and get you some photos, if you're interested. In terms of selection I believe I have:

Boots:

Salomon Super Mountain 9 Guides (uninsulated, damn...loved the fit on these, perfect, just weigh a ton)

Scarpa Freney (blue first gen)

Kayland Super Ice

LS Nepal EVO GTX

LS Batura (first gen)

LS Trango Prime

Scarpa Phantom Guides (latest gen)



Crampons:



Dartwins (sidelock)

G14s (crampomatic)

G20 (both / and / versions, additional small frontpointon the / version)

Air Tech (newmatic)

Rambo 4

Rambocomps

Old Sabretooth Pro

SS Sabretooth Pro

Finding the G20s and SS Sabretooths are the go-to choices on the Primes

and Phantom Guides

Joe"



"Hey Dane,





Attaching a few pictures from some setups. the possible permutations would take days to run through so I haven't got a complete set. My observation is that the Petzl front bale is the most likely to fit other manufacturers crampons,



BD's/Grivel's are generally too wide to swap to other frames. However, I'm not 100% happy with the fit of any combinations...was in the Daks this past weekend and was annoyed that I had a rattle in my Phantom Guide/Sabretooth combo (right boot only) that I was able to eliminate by cranking down the

tension on the heel bale. Didn't seem to impact performance at all, but I don't want to be wasting energy thinking about losing a crampon!



(my note)* I ended up bending Petzl bails to fit my Phantom Ultras with Sabertooths till I got a almost perfect fit. The Ultra and Phantom 6000 likely have the hardest toe priles to fit currently. The modified Sabersnowfit myGuides as well.*



(back to Joe)

End of the day, I'm running G20's (latest ones) and new Sabretooth crampons stock, interchangeably on both the Phantom Guides and Trango Primes. Just need to modify the length and adjust the heel level tension. Relatively happy with both setups, as long as I carefully adjust the heel bale tension.



I really would like to be able to use my Rambo 4s on either set of boots, but regardless what I do with it I can't get a bomber fit. The flat profile of the frame and rocker in my boots just don't play well together."





La Sportiva Prime with Stainless Sabertooth with a Black Diamond Bale on the lft and the Petzl bail on the right.





By all accounts the new Scarpa soles are difficult to fit. Stock Rambo IV and a Scarpa Guide. Note the gap at the toe.

toe gap.....on the Rambo/Guide combo

Rambo/Guide combo with a Petzl front bail...better but not perfect



More from Joe on 2/07/

Made an interesting discovery regarding the Rambo 4. Happened in to Mountain Equipment Co-op, here in Toronto, last week and noticed that the pair of Rambo 4s they had on display appeared to have a much more pronounce rocker to them. Dropped in again on the weekend with my Phantom Guides, Trango Primes and original Rambo 4s in to take a closer look. Sure enough the frames are different, there's a visible dfference in rocker between the pair I had (purchased late , original active anti-bots) and the new (allblack ABS antibots). Makes for a much better fit on both boots. MEC was kind enough to do a straight exchange for me, assuming that the flat frame on my pair must have been a defect. Climbed in 'em yesterday with the Trangos...man, they're fantastic for pure ice.