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Crampons come in two broad kinds, and the ground you walk on decides between them. A rubber harness with short steel spikes stretches over your boots and handles packed snow, an icy footpath or frosted grass, and you pull it on without tools. Steeper, harder ice calls for the strap-on pairs in manganese or tempered steel. Either kind packs in with the rest of your hiking gear and stays in the bag until the track turns white.
Plan the rest of the pack around them. Gloves and a warm layer sit on top, our water bottles go in the side pockets, and you are not digging through the bag with spikes on your feet.
The hiking microspikes put stainless steel spikes on a welded stainless chain with a TPE harness. You choose 11, 13, 19 or 26 points, in orange or black, sizes M and L. The shoe crampons carry 18 stainless steel spikes on reinforced TPE and hold on ice and packed snow, mud included. Another pair has 18 spikes on an elastic TPR harness in two size bands, 34-40 and 40-45. The simpler sets run from 7 to 14 spikes on silicone or TPR, and the 10-spike pair comes in S to XL.
For hard snow and solid ice, the mountaineering crampons use manganese steel with sharpened spikes and reinforced nylon straps. The ski boot pair has 10 tempered steel points, a steel buckle on a nylon strap and an adjustable plate, with an Allen key in the box to set it to your boot. Fit either pair at home first, on the boots you will wear, and check that the straps hold the heel without the points sliding sideways.
Some walkers call the light harness models ice cleats, and they earn their keep on a frozen footpath as much as on a mountain track. Rinse off grit after a walk and let them dry before you pack them away.
Snow can hide the track markers, so carry a map and pair your traction with a GPS watch that can lead you back the way you came.
