Vertical caving terminology and methods > Ice and snow
Metal spikes that are attached to footwear, to provide extra grip on ice. These can be used to avoid slipping, or as a way to invent footholds where there are none, while climbing. Several different designs. Some are designed to be used on gentle slopes, and generally have spikes pointing mostly downwards. These would normally be rated C1 or C2. Some are designed to be used for actively free climbing or aid climbing, and have strong spikes pointing forwards, to allow the toes to be kicked into the ice to create footholds. These would be C3 crampons, which are extremely rigid. Crampons, particularly C1 and C2 crampons, may have dedicated anti-balling plates, which help to stop snow clogging up the bottom of the crampon, or they may require these to be obtained and fitted separately. In general, crampons are not designed to be worn on flexible footwear which might normally be used for caving, since they will just fall off when the boot bends. Instead, they need relatively rigid footwear specifically designed to work with them, known as crampon boots. Different grades of crampon boots are used for different types of crampon, with B1 being the least rigid and least capable, and B3 being the most rigid and most capable. C1 crampons can work with B1, B2 or B3 boots, which they strap to at both the heel and toe ends. However they work best with B1 boots. C2 crampons can only work with B2 and B3 boots, as they clip to a dedicated attachment on the heel of the boot, but are strapped onto the front of the boot like a C1 crampon. C3 crampons can only work with B3 boots, as they clip to attachments on both the heel and toe of the boot. Ice grips are a less capable version of crampons, designed to be used with flexible footwear (which includes B0 boots that cannot be used for crampons). They normally hold on using stretchy rubber, and have a flexible base, rather than being rigid like a crampon. They are only suitable for walking on somewhat slippery surfaces, and cannot be trusted for climbing, since they move around too much on the boot, and do not hold their shape under load.
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