What should you do if your crampons start balling up?
Balling up is when the snow starts sticking to the bottom of your crampons to the point that the crampon points are no longer touching the surface. As one can imagine this is a rather dangerous situation.
They do make anti-balling plates that are supposed to keep this from happening, but I have still had problems even with the plates.
Are there any recommended techniques in addition to using anti-balling plates to keep this from happening?
3 answers
One tip I’ve found helpful is to make sure you leave your crampons out of your tent overnight, so starting out they’re the same temperature as the snow.
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The warning sign of balling up is that your boots will be noticeably heavier due to the snow sticking to them. Once that happens your options include
- Lift up one boot at a time and knock the side of the boot with your ice axe or trekking pole.
- Knock your boots together every so often to dislodge the snow being careful not to get the crampons tangled
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I usually dislodge snow by kicking something: a rock, tree, some ice, or by stomping on a patch of hard ground. Kicking toe first into the snow can dislodge it as well, but often it depends on the type of snow. Using your tool to smack your crampons may work, but it can do damage to both your tool and your crampons, so it's not the best thing to do.
Anti-balling plates are still the best solution. If you're still balling up with your plates on, then you may need new ones, or you may need to treat them to be smooth and slippery again.
I made myself a pair of anti-balling plates that I cut out of a crazy carpet, and they work pretty well:
At first I was just being cheap, but then I discovered that one of the merits of using crazy carpet plates is that they aren't rigid, so the snow can't get packed up inside your crampons as well because the "plate" deforms slightly with each step, dislodging the snow.
The carpet plastic isn't as durable as a solid anti-balling plate, but considering you can get about a dozen pairs out of one $5 carpet, I think you can afford to cycle through a few pairs. I'm still using the first pair I made, and I've been climbing with them a couple of winters now.
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