Petzl Dartwin

[John Frieh]

Anybody tried/own these? Comments?

Edited March 28, 2006 by John Frieh

[fenderfour]

I could be wrong, but I think you are the biggest gear junkie on cc.com.

[John Frieh]

Perhaps... but then again who did you PM when you wanted gear advice on going leashless

[catbirdseat]

Who has used crampons that share the same binding system? What do you think of it? Easy to get into them? Do they stay on?

[John Frieh]

The binding system pictured is called the sidelock.

 

Likes:

 

- doesn't put pressure on your heel like traditional heel lever throw type attachment systems do... I have heard of some people getting blisters from the increased pressure on the heel from a heel lever when doing long distances of glacier travel.

 

- lightweight

 

dislikes:

 

- plastic handle... I haven't torn one yet but I wonder when my luck will change (likely midroute). I will say I use mine a lot and haven't seen any tearing of the plastic so it is likely fine.

 

- plastic handle is hard to pull with mitts on (just take your mitts off though)

 

- the metal triangle piece that is attached to the plastic handle bends easily. You can't bend it from day to day climbing unless you really try hard however if you don't pull in line with the metal triangle when putting the crampons on you can bend the triangle over time. Metal triangle is easy to bend back though.

 

All in all: very cool design. I have the same attachment system on my darts w/ heel spurs and have yet to rip them off the bottom of my feet.

[bigwallpete]

binding system works great on the sarkens. You need to wear your boots to make it easy though.(versus fitting the crampon for length and not putting the boot on)

 

Why the dart in such a light weight crampon why not the dart.

Edited March 28, 2006 by bigwallpete

[fenderfour]

Perhaps... but then again who did you PM when you wanted gear advice on going leashless

 

Which was good advice. The tools are the shit. Fully modular to do whatever I want.

[G-spotter]

Are the same people who worry about not being able to replace picks on their Monsters, gonna worry about not being able to replace frontpoints on their Dorkwins?

[John Frieh]

No

[Ade]

Who has used crampons that share the same binding system? What do you think of it? Easy to get into them? Do they stay on?

 

I have... They're SHIT. As opposed to THE SHIT.

 

Don't fit as wide a range of boot heels as a normal lever system. These are the only crampons I've ever owned that simply would not fit some boots.

 

Are hard to put on in any amount of snow. The lever is small and fiddly. If you think you'll be putting these on wearing mitts when its 0F forget it.

 

Lots of rivets so if something breaks they're going to be harder to botch back together if you have to.

 

There's like 30g difference between the sidelock and leverlocks.

 

The only justification I've ever heard for the sidelock is that it doesn't interfere with heel hooking. Great.

 

Of course if you're using them instead of fruit boots then you probably don't care but when P-C put these binding on an "alpine" crampon (Sarken) they really didn't do anyone any favours. I think they're no longer doing that - after spending a season trying to convice anyone who would listen that this was the "way forward", "huge improvement" and other BS.

 

It's a pity because I really like my modified Sarkens with heel bails. They climb well and are pretty light.

[layton]

The only reason I like the sidelock is for a very specific reason. My old bails popped off my boots on lead multiple times so switching to the sidelock worked. They don't even make my boot anymore (for good reason).

Speaking of which...where the hell are my mad rock boots?

[tomtom]

REI