View Full Version : Micro Spikes. Any need for them?
Prime Time
10-23-2012, 21:03
I'll be starting my NOBO thru hike on March 27. I hiked today in the Whites in about 3 inches of slippery packed snow, ice, slush above 5000 feet and wish I had brought my Micro Spikes. They weigh about 4 ounces and jam into any small corner of your pack and provide great traction in any icy or packed snow conditions. Any opinions out there, especially anyone who may have brought theirs? Are they worth it until, say, you get through NC?
Starchild
10-23-2012, 21:40
4 oz? did they start making them out of titanium while I was out? - I want that!!! Microspikes are great and I highly recommend them as the first part of winter footwear around here. I am curious about the replies about the NoBo necessity for them.
swjohnsey
10-23-2012, 22:43
No.......................
Yes- very convenient in snowy and icy conditions use on the AT in winter season months would be very helpful in some spots but mostly very limited - seasonally conditional - I'd suggest a good mailing plan for sending them home on the drop of a dime.
Creek Dancer
10-24-2012, 05:23
A friend of mine left Springer mid March. I had to send him my Microspikes to help him get through the Smokies. He sent them back to me a few weeks later. Like Papa D said, seasonally conditional.
Starting on March 27th. No.
Starting on February 27th. Maybe.
Starting on January 27th. Yes.
Winter hasn't even started yet, and you're already asking what it'll be like when it's over. You should be asking a good meteorologist, not us.
Lone Wolf
10-24-2012, 06:27
I'll be starting my NOBO thru hike on March 27. I hiked today in the Whites in about 3 inches of slippery packed snow, ice, slush above 5000 feet and wish I had brought my Micro Spikes. They weigh about 4 ounces and jam into any small corner of your pack and provide great traction in any icy or packed snow conditions. Any opinions out there, especially anyone who may have brought theirs? Are they worth it until, say, you get through NC?
no, you won't need them
Starting on March 27th. No.
Starting on February 27th. Maybe.
Starting on January 27th. Yes.
+1. And mine weigh 16.8 oz., so I would not want to carry them if there were little chance of needing them.
You should be asking a good meteorologist......
Good luck with that!
I lived on the coast for 25 years - almost exactly one half mile from the Atlantic. Weather forecasts were marginally ok. I think they were pretty good actually. It was really remarkable watching the accuracy of hurricane forecasting get noticeably better year after year
But in the mountains, where the AT runs - I think a pair of dice are almost as good as a weather forecast. Sitting here in Erwin I am just about immune to taking forecasts for more than a marginal indicator of what it *might* do - maybe.
I can sit here and watch it rain on one side of the mountains, and not on this side. Very frequently it rains on one side of Sam's Gap and not the other and it can be pouring down rain at Iron Mt. Gap and dry as a bone here in Erwin - 11 trail miles away.
Don't know that this ramble is about... :)
Drybones
10-24-2012, 08:53
Weather can be unpredictable, check the forecast before you leave and plan accordingly, but I'd say there's a 99% chance you dont need spikes starting on 3/27.
Prime Time
10-24-2012, 09:08
Sorry for the dumb typo. My spikes weigh 14 oz, not 4. Judging by the few posts above, it sounds like there's a better than 75% chance that I won't need them down south in late March. The trouble is everybody I talk to seems to have a story about slip sliding through 6 inches of packed wet snow in late March/early April. If I kept them for 3 weeks and really needed them for a couple of days, I'd consider them worth the trouble. Otherwise it seems like I'd be holed up for the day on the trail (not an option, I'd go insane) or creeping along lamenting the fact that I didn't bring them. I'll probably bring them, then wish I hadn't! By doing so I will at least guarantee that no one else on the trail with me at that time will need them either.
bamboo bob
10-24-2012, 09:13
4 ounces no, maybe 14 ounces
Weather can be unpredictable, check the forecast before you leave and plan accordingly, but I'd say there's a 99% chance you dont need spikes starting on 3/27.
I agree that this should be a last-minute decision, with no guarantee you'll get the "right" answer. The "safest" answer is to bring them -- you own them already!!! Bringing them depends on your personal attitude toward pack weight. I would not automatically bring them, being very weight-focused, unless I was leaving a month earlier... BUT I would check the amount of snow in the smokies and a two week forecast and I would bring them if I knew there was significant snow ahead. In general, I'm annoyed if I should stop and wait out ice -- I tend to just risk falling... some don't mind waiting are are more cautious. Factor that in when you're deciding. I also really don't like to walk with microspikes on if I don't have to -- bad enough to carry them on your back -- even worse to carry them on your feet. Don't bring them = calculated risk. Bring them = wasted "safety factor" load at worst, pat on your own back for good planning at best. ummm. maybe bring only one???
Sorry for the dumb typo. My spikes weigh 14 oz, not 4. Judging by the few posts above, it sounds like there's a better than 75% chance that I won't need them down south in late March. The trouble is everybody I talk to seems to have a story about slip sliding through 6 inches of packed wet snow in late March/early April. If I kept them for 3 weeks and really needed them for a couple of days, I'd consider them worth the trouble. Otherwise it seems like I'd be holed up for the day on the trail (not an option, I'd go insane) or creeping along lamenting the fact that I didn't bring them. I'll probably bring them, then wish I hadn't! By doing so I will at least guarantee that no one else on the trail with me at that time will need them either.
You can pack them close to your Leatherman so you can get to them quickly. :)
<don't know if you get the joke or not... but there is another thread going on about something similar "Is a Leatherman useless?">
Good luck with that!
....
And predicting storms and hurricanes is probably a whole lot easier than predicting what the winter will be like and when the snow will melt.
In 2011 we had a high snow year in the Sierras, followed by a late melt, and then an incredibly fast melt off. Other than the high snow year, I don't think the rest was predicted by anyone.
I find asking about the snow and weather conditions half a year away to be almost entirely pointless. I can totally understand feeling the need to ask questions like this anyway. The best course is to pay attention to the journals of early starters and getting reports from locals.
With a March 27 start, if you want to keep your options open, have them waiting for you before you enter the Smokies, then make the call then as to whether to carry them or ship them home. Ship them home after the Smokies regardless.
Seriously, leaving Springer on March 27th it would be a very safe bet to leave them at home.
I mean... you have to draw the line somewhere and make calculations based on probabilities. Otherwise we'd carry defibulators because you might just need one of those too.
There's almost no need to guess if you have a good journal to read.
More like 13 oz for size med. My Kahtoola MicroSpikes XL weigh about 14 oz.
I find asking about the snow and weather conditions half a year away to be almost entirely pointless. - Leaftye
I agree that THIS SHOULD BE A LAST-MINUTE DECISION, with no guarantee you'll get the "right" answer. .... Bringing them depends on your personal attitude toward pack weight. I WOULD NOT automatically bring them, being very weight-focused, unless I was leaving a month earlier... BUT I would check the amount of snow in the Smokies and a two week(AHEAD) forecast and make the decision THEN... - lazarus
75 % chance you will not need them sounds about right.
Good to see you back Dogwood.
Starting on March 27th. No.
Starting on February 27th. Maybe.
Starting on January 27th. Yes.
+1
I'll also mention that you may want to weigh yours again.
Much more than 4 oz, but a bit less than a pound as I recall.
Correction, my XL ones are a bit over 14 oz. The heavier weight was a shipping weight that included packaging. And I would not bother taking them on a 3/27 start.
ChinMusic
10-24-2012, 16:27
I mean... you have to draw the line somewhere and make calculations based on probabilities. Otherwise we'd carry defibulators because you might just need one of those too.
This is one of the best posts of all time.
RichardD
10-24-2012, 22:45
I hiked in 2011 starting March 23 and there was absolutely no need of them. The only ice I saw was after Damascus and traildays and that ice was on the trees not on the trail. A little ice on Katahdin Oct 7th but no need for spikes. Every year is different so as everyone else says look at the weather reports right before you start.
I am having the same quandry, do I take spikes and ice axe on the PCT in April, my thoughts are no but prepare to have them mailed to me if it looks like I might need them.
Lady Grey
10-25-2012, 07:01
What about the need for microspikes with a March 8 start? Still a 75% chance I won't need them? I already own them and use them a lot around VT in the winters... don't mind bringing them along but hate the extra weight.
ChinMusic
10-25-2012, 09:46
My current plan is to start in late Feb. I will be taking my Microspikes with me. I expect ice at times and will prob keep the spikes til after the Smokies. If the extended forecast is very favorable I could see mailing em back sooner.
I have hiked enough in December and January in the southern AT to know I may need some traction.
Somewhere on bear Mountain is a yak trax that came off my boot and I didn't even know it.
ChinMusic
10-25-2012, 10:08
Somewhere on bear Mountain is a yak trax that came off my boot and I didn't even know it.
I used to use Yak Trax and had similar issues. I got tired of having to constantly check my feet and retracing my steps to retrieve thrown Trax. IMO Yak Trax are more useful for driveway work than the trail.
Re: YakTrax
When I use those I tie them across the tops of my shoes with spectra cord. Keeps them in place.
They are not nearly as grippy at Microspikes.
On our New Years hike from Amicalola to Neels last year, I wore Microspikes and my husband wore YakTrax for most of a day. I could walk right up and down glare ice (Blood Mtn., for instance) where the YakTrax failed to grip. FWIW, we were hiking with someone who left her YakTrax sitting in her truck. She also made the hike without injury, but there was a lot of annoying to her picking her way around the ice. On the AT it can almost always be done, but Microspikes make walking on ice easy, and you can move more quickly. One of the paradoxical times when adding weight can improve speed. ;-)