Review: Phantom GT Tech Toes & Splitboard Crampons (for hard-boots)
Price
£190 - for the Phantom GT Tech Toes
£89 - for the Phantom GT Splitboard Crampons
Brand // Manufacturers
What we liked
Toe bumper to make aligning your hard-boot with the pins soooo much easier, and a really robust feeling design.
Matching crampons bite deep, glide easy and attach well.
What we didn’t
Um….
The Verdict
THE SHORT READ…
A confidence-inspiring 2nd generation tech toe design - fractionally heavier than some others but tech toes are mission-critical and these both look and feel super-robust and the toe-bumper makes stepping-in so much easier (almost) every time.
The matching crampons have good bite and glide, and an improved attachment-bar to the tech toes.
THE LONG READ …
These are the 2nd Generation Grand Tour (GT) Tech Toes, new for the 2023-2024 season, and based on Atomic Backland under-pinnings, like the Phantom Slipper Boot itself.
They feel super-robust - which was one of the key improvements over the previous iteration. They weigh-in at 324g for the pair, whereas the equivalent Spark R&D are a bit lighter at 296g, but really the difference in the hand in terms of how robust they both look and feel and the confidence that gives, is worth the extra 30g (for the pair) to me.
The bump-stops are great - they nicely guide your boot to the right position for the pins to engage, avoiding a lot of faff with missed attempts at stepping-in.
These also feature a leash attachment for glacial travel.
You’ll need to pair them with the Phantom GT Splitboard Crampons - these are shorter in length than those that went with the previous version of the tech toes, but the rear tooth is quite a bit deeper. The incrementally increasing tooth depth from front to back should help with glide and reduced effort walking.
Like the Tech Toes, these are also based on an Atomic Backlands crampon design. The pin that connects them to the tech toes is now a much stronger metal than the previous Spark-based design and their shaped centering mechanism works really well. Those aspects were a bit of weakness in the earlier iteration as many of us had issues with the pins on the Spark ski crampons getting bent or just breaking, especially when trying to traverse icy slopes where there was a lot of side-ways pressure on the crampon. I’ll report back after more testing, but so far these feel like they might improve on that performance.
SUMMARY…
This redesign from Phantom really delivers improvements in robustness and ease-of use. The tech toes have a certain ‘heft’ in the hand, and both look and feel very robust in use. The matching crampons work well, with deep bite, improved glide and improved interfacing with the tech toes.
Pair them with any hard boot binding that goes into your pack for the up-hill - like the Plum SOK, Phantom M6, or any other.
Recommended.