Can Petzl Lynx or other types of climbing crampons be used for mountaineering?

I wanted to know about this for quite a while, and couldn't really find any information online.

My reasoning here is that the front points are vertical, and ultimately, even thought there are 10-12 other crampon spikes, the front points might cut through the snow, making them worse to use than the crampons with horizontal spikes vidmate.onl/  .

I know people usually say that you should have two sets of crampons, but as I'm just gathering gear for the next season and my first ice climbs, was interested to know more about this, and felt the community might have the best answer to this question.

They’ll work fine but are not the best tools for the job. Why not just get horizontal front point crampons for both mountaineering and ice climbing? You can decide if you prefer vertical front points for ice once you get some experience, they’re not necessary especially when you’re just starting out.

I learned to ice climb with some BD contacts (strap-on, horizontal points) that I found on a mountain, and they worked just fine.  I've since moved on to Petzl Sarkens (hybrid points) for both mountaineering and occasional ice climbing, and they work for both.  If you get seriously into ice and mixed, you'll probably want monopoints or something anyways, but that's a ways in the future.

Jimmy Strange wrote:

25 years of using vertical, horizontal and mono and I find no difference 95% of the time so I just go with the most minimal that fits my needs and wear them for everything.
Its the wizard not the wand…

what Jimmy said!  almost twice as many years - but for me the configuration of points - angle & position - of secondary & tertiary points - makes more difference than whether front points are oriented vertically or horizontally.  up to 45' or so, ya don't even need front points (I've taken up using microspikes for lower-angle & snow, to save weight).  for what its worth, on steep (waterfall) ice, I favor monopoints and a secondary/tertiary point configuration that allows me to usually engage five points per foot when "frontpointing", rather than just two.  "Technical" climbing crampons work fine for general mountaineering, but may not be cost effective unless you're climbing to a high standard.

-Haireball

Probably something you don't need to worry too much about at first but I've found that horizontal front points are very difficult to use on thin and delicate ice. I'm not the greatest climber by any means but we climb a lot of marginal ice at times up here and I've come to this conclusion based on my own experiences and those of my partners

I’m bringing my Petzl Lynx and Scarpa Zodiac Techs for some non-technical peakbagging outside of Almaty (12k-14k peaks with some light snowfields) in June. If I report back, everything went fine, if not, then maybe YGD for not using the horizontal points.

+1 from at me for the Lynx actually being one of the, lowkey, best all around crampons. They're sturdy and durable, you can go mono or duo, and the vertical front points make very little difference (completely unnoticeable for me, personally) on snow. I think if you're only going to buy 1 crampon set to do everything, the Lynx are the way to go. I say that having both G12s and Blade Runners. 

I have the latest version of Darts, I’ve had partners with Lynx, and I also have Sarkens and Leopards in my personal quiver along with some random assortment of CAMP, Grivel, and BD ‘pons.  Sadly I keep collecting more looking for the perfect pair but I’m not wearing them out.  If I’m climbing ice then I’ll reach for the Darts, at some point they’ll also be the go-to for dry tooling but I haven’t run out of rainy day house projects yet.  If I’m walking on a frozen volcano with mixed rock, frozen snow and some dry glacier then I’ll carry the Sarkens.  If I’m taking skis/splitboard and mostly dealing with soft neve or frozen corn then I’m carrying the Leopards.  If I could only have one pair of what I currently own it would be the Sarkens, if I was limited to one pair only at this point and it could be a different pair it would be the Vasak.  I like having the extra points under the ball of my foot.

cheder creews wrote:

I wanted to know about this for quite a while, and couldn't really find any information online.

My reasoning here is that the front points are vertical, and ultimately, even thought there are 10-12 other crampon spikes, the front points might cut through the snow, making them worse to use than the crampons with horizontal spikes vidmate.onl/  .

I know people usually say that you should have two sets of crampons, but as I'm just gathering gear for the next season and my first ice climbs, was interested to know more about this, and felt the community might have the best answer to this question.

You'll be fine. You may wear them out a little sooner than you otherwise would by only using them on technical ice, but it takes a lot to wear crampons out. If you wear them out, you'll be stoked on all the climbing you did and the experience you got out of them. 

You could do a lot worse than having Lynx crampons as your only set.