Traction & Safety

For ice underfoot and the days conditions turn.

About the links on this page.Some go to Amazon, and as an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases — at no extra cost to you. It does not change what we recommend: every card here also says who the item is not for, and a few things we think you should simply rent in Kathmandu or Pokhara instead, which earns us nothing.

Twelve-point steel, fitted to your boot at the shopWhat we usually arrange

What we usually arrange

For one peak, on one morning, with a guide

Crampons and axe, rented in Kathmandu

Twelve-point steel, fitted to your boot at the shop

Crampons must match your boot, and the shop fits them to the boot you actually brought — that fitting is worth more than owning a pair that has never been on your foot. Our climbing itineraries include this; ask rather than buying.

Fitted to your boot, in front of you, before you leave the city

A fraction of the purchase price

No 900 g of steel in your airline baggage

Condition varies — check the points and the anti-balling plates

Must be fitted before you fly to Lukla, not after

Nothing to practise with at home

Not for you if: Anyone who climbs regularly, or anyone who has never worn crampons. If it is your first time, the training matters far more than the hardware.

Rental shops in Kathmandu and Pokhara carry this — about usd 2-4 per day for crampons, similar for an axe. We take nothing from that.

Best overall

For the frozen morning trail that no boot sole handles

Kahtoola MICROspikes

The most useful 300 g in this whole catalogue on a winter or early-spring trek — they turn a terrifying frozen descent into an ordinary one, and they are completely unnecessary in a dry October.

Skip it ifGlacier travel or steep snow. That is crampon territory and this is not a substitute.

Check price on Amazon

Best emergency shelter

For the day someone cannot walk further

SOL Emergency Bivvy

A hundred grams that keeps an injured or exhausted person alive while help walks down for them — you will almost certainly never open it, which is exactly the point.

Skip it ifNobody. One per group, in the guide’s pack and one in yours.

Check price on Amazon

Best to own

Ten points, flexible binding, fits an ordinary trekking boot

Kahtoola K10 Hiking Crampon

The gap between microspikes and real mountaineering crampons, and it straps to a boot with no welt — which most trekking boots lack. It is not a technical crampon and will not hold on steep water ice; nor should you ask it to.

Skip it ifSoft trekking shoes. A crampon on a flexible sole comes off at the worst moment.

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Best whistle

Heard where a shout is not

Fox 40 Pealess Whistle

Carries across a valley when a voice does not and works when you are too cold or too winded to shout — pealess means it still works soaked or frozen, which the corked kind does not.

Skip it ifNobody. Clip it to the chest strap, not inside the lid.

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Best value

Enough grip for a village path in frost

Yaktrax Diamond Grip

Fine on level frozen ground and around lodges, and clearly out of their depth on a steep frozen descent — which is exactly where people find out.

Skip it ifAny steep, exposed frozen section. Spend the extra on MICROspikes.

Check price on Amazon

Most used item nobody lists

Splits a boot, a pole, a mat and a duffel back together

Tape and a small repair kit

A metre of tape wrapped around a trekking pole has salvaged more trekking days than any other single item we carry — it will not fix a delaminated sole permanently, but it will get you to the next village.

Skip it ifNobody. Wrap a metre round each pole before you leave home.

Check price on Amazon

Annapurna Region

Sightseeing & Culture

Trek Guides

Company

Traction & Safety

For one peak, on one morning, with a guide

For the frozen morning trail that no boot sole handles

For the day someone cannot walk further

Ten points, flexible binding, fits an ordinary trekking boot

Heard where a shout is not

Enough grip for a village path in frost

Splits a boot, a pole, a mat and a duffel back together