crampon
Crampons are a piece of equipment for high alpine mountaineers . They are attached to the shoe and are used for safe locomotion on snow and firn fields, ice surfaces and glaciers .
history
In Europe, the first reference to crampons can be found on the Arch of Constantine in ancient Rome (312 AD). According to Tertullian (* around 150; † around 230), they are said to have been invented by spies in order to be able to move safely in difficult terrain. In 1574, Josias Simler (* 1530; † 1576) describes iron tripods in his treatise DE ALPIBVS COMMENTARIVS , which can be strapped like Grödeln under shoes that did not yet have treaded soles ( soleas ferreas , German: horseshoes ). In 1588 there were four-pointed irons for woodworkers, hunters and mineral seekers. In the first half of the 19th century, when the development of the Alps began on a large scale, the devices became increasingly popular and, forged to measure, were widespread in numerous forms. In the second half of the century the number of spikes increased and crampons in the shape still used today, which enclose the entire shoe sole, were created. The mountaineers of that time could be roughly divided into two groups: The Tyroleans, who generally accepted crampons, and the English, who, as purists, opposed the new device as "artificial aids". Edward Whymper , one of the first climbers of the Matterhorn , called them "[...] artificial aids on which one cannot depend on dangerous slopes". Emil Zsigmondy , however, said, mutatis mutandis, the mountain guides in Zermatt would therefore not use crampons, because the step cutting would thus be redundant and suffer their reputation among customers damage. Not least because of their use in the military, the iron finally prevailed in all mountains and is now an integral part of alpine touring equipment .
A major promoter of the crampon technique was Oscar Eckenstein with the Eckenstein technique named after him . Before the development of frontal spikes, this enabled snow and ice flanks to be walked on slopes of up to 35 ° without stepping through the use of all vertical spikes (8 to 10) of a crampon.
Construction
Crampons consist of two movably connected, perforated steel base plates; for difficult ice tours , rigid connections are also used because the shell shoe also has a rigid sole.
There are a number of sharp triangular prongs (7-12 pieces) on these plates (next to the shoe attachment). A distinction is made between two types of spikes: vertical spikes and frontal spikes. Vertical spikes are attached to the two long sides of the steel base plate. The first pair of vertical prongs usually protrude at an angle of <90 °, while the remaining vertical prongs are attached at right angles. The frontal points are attached at the height of the shoe tips and point forward at an angle. Occasionally you can find crampons that are only equipped with a front point.
The material used is typically steel , but it may for reasons of weight (at the expense of a shorter lifetime) and an aluminum - alloy are used. Due to their lower hardness , aluminum crampons are not suitable for tours in combined terrain made of ice and rock or on bare ice. Crampons made of lightweight titanium can also be found on the market occasionally. Depending on the alloy, the strength values are comparable to those of steel.
Modern crampons have so-called anti - tread plates made of smooth rubber or plastic on their underside so that in certain snow conditions no cleats form between the spikes, which represent an increased risk of accidents due to sliding .
In modern mixed climbing in particular , crampons with an additional heel spur (English spur ) are used. These are additional spikes on the heel that allow you to rest in many positions by hanging over your head, for example on the ice axes. In the mixed climbing scene, the use of heel spurs is controversial, some prominent climbers propagate the abandonment of heel spurs or their limited use in the sense of a sportier and less technical climbing style.
use
With the help of crampons, you can move safely on snow and firn fields, ice surfaces and glaciers. In flat and moderately steep terrain, the vertical spikes provide sufficient support as long as all the spikes are inserted into the ice. With increasing steepness, mountaineers only use the somewhat more stable frontal points and the foremost vertical points in the ice.
Ice axes and ice axes offer additional security .
Shoe fastening
There are two dominant concepts for fastening it to the mountaineering boot : In the case of strap binding , fastening is carried out with nylon or Perlon straps, which are lashed over the shoe with the help of thorn buckles. The lever binding requires crampon-compatible shoes with pronounced bars on the front and rear edge of the sole. The crampon is then fixed to the shoe by a bracket on the front edge of the sole and by a toggle lever on the rear edge. An additional lanyard usually prevents accidental loss and loosening of the rocker arm.
Combinations of both fastening systems are also available. Examples are crampons with cup binding at the front and rocker arm binding at the rear. They allow the use on shoes in which the front edge of the sole is already worn through contact with the rock.
In contrast to iron with belt binding, those with lever binding are quicker to put on and take off, which saves time, especially on tours with many changes between rock and ice passages. In addition, the strap binding leads to impaired blood circulation in the foot.
Grödel, light crampons and other variants
Grödel are lightweight crampons with four to six diagonal points. They are suitable as climbing aids on patches of firn and narrow firn channels. For small firn fields and short glacier crossings, easy crampons with six to eight points are also suitable.
In the Alpine region, so-called Wiesmahdeisen (a little longer than the Grödel) were used for haying very steep hillside meadows and by the raftsmen when drifting and rafting the wood on the rivers.
Special strap-on scrapers as well as shoe chains or shoe spikes for regular footwear and work shoes are sometimes sold and traded under the same name.
There are also mast irons or construction irons that are designed for climbing on wooden masts ( mast climbing ) or in trees ( rope-assisted tree climbing technique ) . They only have a single, inward-facing thorn about ankle height that has to be driven into the wood. Otherwise the foot use of this climbing technique is pretty similar to the alpine use.
Field-packed German telegraph operator with pole crampons in his left hand
Telegraph squad at work with the mast crampons
Pole crampons and safety belts for wooden poles which were mostly used for telegraph lines
See also
- Crampons , additional equipment for touring skis
- Mountain boot
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ grivel.com
- ↑ Josias Simler: The Alps , newly published by the German Alpine Association, Carta-Verlag, Pforzheim 1984, ISBN 3-88731-016-0 , p. 157 ff.
- ↑ girovagandointrentino.it ( Memento of the original from November 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Are heel spurs for horses? , Albert Leichtfried from bergstieg.com, accessed on November 22, 2012.
- ↑ Andi Dick: Mixed climbing: Ice climbing without ice . In: DAV (Ed.): DAV Panorama . No. 10 , 2010, p. 14–15 ( alpenverein.de [PDF; accessed on November 22, 2012]).
