Skeats™ Claws
What we liked …
They can really get you out of nasty icy side-hilling situations while being super portable, light and easy to put on.
What we didn’t LIKE …
Not a lot…
The Verdict
Our Rating
5 out of 5
the Short Read…
These mini ski-crampons don’t take up much room in your pack, can fit in your pocket, are easier to put on than a lot of dedicated ski camprons, and fit any ski or splitboard, irrespective of binding type. They don’t neccessarily replace dedicated ski crampons, which over longer distances are going to be more efficient, but will get you out of tight scrapes in more ‘incidental’ situations. Take them when you are not planning to need crampons, but want some insurance.
The Long read …
Getting back to the Relais du Col refuge via the marked ‘Sentier 2000’ mountain trail, above Lac du Mont Cenis, in the Val Cenis ski area, had seemed like a good idea at the time. But being only 30cm wide for most of the 5km I was on it, scratched into a very steep hillside, meant that a lot of the way the old hard snow on it was canted up at the same steep angle as the hillside itself, and in the many narrow gullies the path crossed, it dissappeared altogether under a continuous hard-packed steep and icy drift. Even with a hard-boot set up, I either couldn’t hold an edge well, or it was collapsey enough to crumble away under my planks.
But, it turned out that I was prepared - at the recent La Norma Splitfest’ (Jan 2023) I’d met Leonardo Costello, of Mountain Cleats, Inc, and had borrowed a pair of these puppies to test out. I didn’t actually think I’d need them this day, but had stuffed them in my pocked just in case. Glad I did - they saved my bacon many times. Easy to put on, they gave me enough grip to not slide off that path, and yet were low-profile enough that they didn’t add much more drag than my normal ski crampons would have.
Portability - These things are so simple, no moving parts, and just two parts at that; a ski strap and a single-piece stainless-steel crampon. They come in 3 widths: 85mm, 110mm & 130mm - sit snugly together, teeth inwards, and so can fit in your pockets, in a back-pack belt pouch, or simply be strapped onto something on your backpack using the ski straps themselves. It’s way better to have ski crampons handy, for when you need them, than to get into a slidy situation and then have to take off your backpack to get at them, bricking it the whole time. These are SO much easier to carry outside your pack than normal ski crampons that you can afford to carry them like that well before you think you need them.
They come with a rubber band that holds them together when not in use - but that’s what, 2 unneccessary grams? And something extra to remember to put in a pocket and try not to loose. ? I’m trying to figure out how to use the two ski straps themselves to hold them tight together. I’ll update you here when I figure out a good system! Not a biggie…
Getting them on - Easy to do with your planks on, simply lay the claws teeth down in the snow, position the ski on top of them so that they are forward of mid-boot, kneel down and do the ski strap up as tight as you can get it. That’s important, as they may slide backwards down the ski, under pressure. Getting them off is just as easy.
In use - The height of the side teeth is only about half that of a dedicated ski crampon, and length (along the ski) is only around a third as long, but these things have one advantage over dedicated ski crampons - they have the extra teeth across the width of the ski as well, to really help your skins stop you sliding backwards. Those cross-ski teeth are angled backwards slightly, to help glide when skinning. And it really works - you get a lot of the performance of dedicated ski crampons, in a much smaller and more portable package.
You can, of course, get a bit more drag on each step when skinning, because of those cross-ski teeth, but given the security they give you, it’s a pay off well worth making.
The ski straps are threaded through the crampon base in a way that cushions it against your skins. You’ll find a nice impression of the Claws on the skin hairs when you take them off, but they won’t have done any damage to the skins at all.
I did find that, over time, they tended to slide back along the ski, towards my heel, but they were anyway stopped going further by the heel riser assembly - and just doing the straps up tighter helped to prevent that sliding.
The long ends of the ski straps, even if left to flap around, didn’t get in the way at all, but, if you are more tidy-minded, you can just tuck the strap ends back under the bit of them that goes around the ski, under your foot.
A thought experiement: If you were on a super gnarly, big-consequence skin, you could even use these in conjunction with a dedicated ski-crampon - with the Claws positioned towards the back of the boot, behind the main crampons. I hope I don’t find myself on a slope needing that too often though!
Overall
I’m a big fan of these Skeats™ Claws - them having saved me sliding off the skin track at numerous points, and having proved super easy to carry and put on. I’ve bought a pair now, and I reckon I’ll carry these on all my ski tours where the snow conditions and route mean I’d not be expecting any icy side-hilling, but where their weight and size mean I can afford to carry them as insurance.
Highly recommended.