Howdy, I have almost always had mountain boots with a step in toe welt, but have a pair of good alpine boots by Millet w/o a toe welt and was wondering what experiences you all have had with toe baskets and heel levers.
Am not gong to be doing extreme ice and mixed, more longer alpine and ice routes no harder than WI5.
Am thinking of getting a pair of Sabertooth Clip 'pons.
I have a pair of grivel 12 newmatics that I love! I use them for general mountaineering and moderate ice climbs ( I have only personally climbed up to WI3 on them) with no issues! So far, no problems with them at all. Fits secure to my boot, climbs great, and the antibots are work great.
I have a pair of the older Sabertooth clips. Until recently, I have pretty much hated them for anything but snow or neve climbing. It turns out that the reason for this is that they simply didn't fit my boot solidly.
I wear size 41-ish boots, and they are a little too small in the toe for a solid fit. No matter how snugly the crampons were fit to the boot, my toe was able to lift away and push through the cradle. This made it impossible to frontpoint on hard ice.
I recently found that my Sabertooths will accept toe bails from my Cyborgs, (or almost any crampon). The result is an extremely secure fit, that's actually better than the pro-version. Now I absolutely love climbing hard winter ice and mixed in my Sabertooths. The best part is that when summer comes around, I can take the bails off and use my summer boots in clip mode for snow climbing.
I also have a pair of G12s with Newmatic bindings. They work well. The Cramp-o-matic bindings are a little better, mainly because they provide a stiffer connection between boots and crampons, but without a toe welt...
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