CAMP Ice Rider

Good basic alpine crampons. Easy to adjust and wear with boots that work with step in crampons. Come with a good bag and anti-ball plates.

This is a review of the camp ice rider auto crampons. I wear them with Scarpa Inverno boots. These must be worn with a rigid mountaineering boot; they won't work with most boots, even heavy all-leather boots; Camp makes different bindings for other boot styles. Camp also makes more specialized ice climbing crampons. These are for basic winter hiking and climbing.  

This shows the basic layout. The red pieces help prevent snow from accumulating under your feet. Basic steel 12 point design. Quite durable.  

These are a good, fairly standard crampon for mountaineering. They are semi-rigid 12 point steel alloy. That means two front points, six under your forefoot, and four under your heel. They are durable, as most good brands of steel crampons are. I haven't experienced any bending or breaking. 

The size is easy to adjust, by lifting a springy aluminum piece at the heel and engaging holes in the steel linking bar that connects the front and the back—no screwdriver or wrench necessary, which is nice. The heel and toe bails can be adjusted a little forward and backward, and the rear piece that engages the heel of your boot can be adjusted to help customize the fit. The binding is pretty standard stuff. 

This shows the front points and the bail that fits over the front of your boots...

This shows the heel locked onto my winter alpine boots, Scarpa plastic boots.  

Top view of the crampons

Bottom view, attached to my boots

These come with anti-balling plates attached, and with a nice storage bag. Camp sells longer linking bars if you have larger feet (10 1/2 or higher might need these). 

The anti-balling plates are a moderately flexible hard foam—they are permanently attached, requiring you to bend a few metal pieces to remove them. That is not ideal, but the only time I removed them was to put in the longer linking bars.

These aren't particularly lightweight, and they are best suited to mountaineering and mixed terrain, but not for ice climbing. 

Background

Several years of winter hiking, White Mountains and Adirondacks.