Is the BD Snaggletooth the most underrated crampon?

I'm in the middle of a trip packing for a trip and the Snaggletooth is coming with me. When I put them in the bag today I thought; "Damn, these things are so cool and I don't use them nearly enough."

There are a handful of reviews out there but this crampon really doesn't get talked about a lot. Does anyone else feel like these are the most underrated crampon, especially for alpine climbing? 

They climb water ice great, they mixed climb well, climb snow amazingly, they walk excellently, they don't ball up, they are decently light, they're durable. There isn't much that they don't have going for them. I'm curious if I'm the only person that feels this way or if this crampon is universally loved, but everyone is too quiet about it?

Their biggest downside is what they are made out of. That stainless is pretty, but gets frightfully dull much faster than proper steel (i.e. every other brand of crampon).

Gunkiemikewrote:

Their biggest downside is what they are made out of. That stainless is pretty, but gets frightfully dull much faster than proper steel (i.e. every other brand of crampon).

You have a point for improvement there for sure. 

Yeah,the stainless is disappointing,mine felt dull straight out of the box.

I remember Grivel made a similar crampon based on their G12 design,again with a monpoint, never heard anything about them

Love my Snaggletooths.  

Use them for water ice, mixed, alpine.  They do everything well.  

I think that from this point forward, for steep climbing, the only two crampons I will use are the Blade Runner (for really steep pure ice,) and the Snaggletooth for everything else.  

LL Binerwrote:

I remember Grivel made a similar crampon based on their G12 design,again with a monpoint, never heard anything about them

I vaguely remember that. I can't remember what the model name was. After falling in love with the snaggletooth, I wouldn't mind finding a pair of the grivel ones and trying them to see if the better steel makes for an even better crampon. 

NateCwrote:

I vaguely remember that. I can't remember what the model name was. After falling in love with the snaggletooth, I wouldn't mind finding a pair of the grivel ones and trying them to see if the better steel makes for an even better crampon. 

I believe you are referring to the G12 "Dahu"

Mike Sistiwrote:

I believe you are referring to the G12 "Dahu"

Thanks! 

Mike Sistiwrote:

I believe you are referring to the G12 "Dahu"

Dahu was pretty much just a G12 with one of the points sawed off.  

Snaggletooth was purpose built as a monopoint, with the positioning of the big point in a different spot compared with a traditional dual point crampon.  

I do wish that Grivel would come out with a real competitor for the Snaggletooth, with forged steel, instead of BD's stamped stainless.  

The Cassin Alpinist pro has a mono point version that is forged.  I seem to do well with the dual version. 

Maybe I’m missing something on the geometry, but would there be a market for a short replaceable point for modular crampons? Or is the appeal in having horizontal 1.5 points for alpine ice?

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

The Cassin Alpinist pro has a mono point version that is forged.  I seem to do well with the dual version. 

I had these for a bit.  Couldn't get them to fit my boots very well.  Ended up selling them.  

Also, the front points are pretty different than with the Snaggletooth.  The Snaggletooth's wide chisel points perform a bit differently (and I think better) than the Cassin's.  

Spopepro O.wrote:

Maybe I’m missing something on the geometry, but would there be a market for a short replaceable point for modular crampons? Or is the appeal in having horizontal 1.5 points for alpine ice?

Personally, I think a single “centered” horizontal front point is best for traditional / alpine mixed climbing and more than adequate on neve and sun baked ice.  I used to be able to set up the Cassin Blade Runner this way.  The large inner front point on the Snaggletooth isn’t quite centered enough to avoid creating a significant amount of torque when the small outer front point isn’t engaged.  The stainless steel of BD crampons also wears a lot faster than the chrome-moly steel alternatives.

I would like to see BD redesign the Snaggletooth to center the large inner front point and eliminate the smaller outside front point.  I would also prefer to have a version with a front toe basket attachment, rather than the wire bail.  I use the Petzl Fil-Flex toe baskets on my Snaggletooths, but it certainly isn’t ideal.

Karl Henizewrote:

Personally, I think a single “centered” horizontal front point is best for traditional / alpine mixed climbing and more than adequate on neve and sun baked ice.  I used to be able to set up the Cassin Blade Runner this way.  

What's keeping you from continuing to set up a Blade Runner in this configuration?  

Kai Larsonwrote:

What's keeping you from continuing to set up a Blade Runner in this configuration?  

I sent the crampons back to the manufacturer for a recall a few years ago.  When I got them back, I could no longer fit the horizontal front points in the center slot.  There is a clash with the front section of the crampon.