Microspikes, crampons or snowshoes: which traction for which day

Microspikes

Short steel spikes on chains, held on by a stretchy rubber harness that pulls over almost any boot or trail shoe. They are for packed snow and ice on trails of easy to moderate steepness, which describes most winter trail below treeline once other hikers have been over it.

They go on and come off in seconds, so they are the pair you will use most.

Crampons

A rigid frame with longer, sharper points. They are for steep slopes of firm snow or ice, where a slip would not stop on its own. New Hampshire Fish and Game calls them non-negotiable above treeline.

Crampons need a boot stiff enough to hold them, and they take practice. On steep ground they are normally carried together with an ice axe.

Snowshoes

Snowshoes do a different job. They spread your weight so you stay on top of deep or unbroken snow instead of sinking to the knee with every step. Most have teeth underneath for grip on moderate slopes, but they are for depth, not for ice.

Choosing for the day

• Packed, icy trail in the trees: microspikes
• Deep or fresh snow, or a trail nobody has broken out: snowshoes
• Steep, hard snow or ice, and anything above treeline: crampons
• A long day that climbs from the valley to an open summit: often all three, because the snow changes with height

What people get wrong

• Treating microspikes as small crampons. They grip a packed trail. They do not hold on a steep, hard slope, and that is exactly where a slip matters.
• Leaving snowshoes in the car because the lot is packed down. The trail two miles in may not be.
• Carrying crampons without having worn them. Fit them to your boots at home, and walk in them somewhere flat first.
• Changing too late. Put traction on at the first ice, before the slip, and swap to crampons at the bottom of the steep section, not halfway up it.

Before you go

• What to carry on a winter day hike in the White Mountains
• Mount Washington Avalanche Center: daily forecast