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Black Diamond Sabretooth

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Reviews	Views	Date of last review
2	9948	Fri Dec 17, 2004

Recommended By	Average Price	Average Rating
100% of reviewers	$125.00	9.0

Description:

Buy it at the Mountaineer.

The ultra-versatile Sabretooth Step-In and Clip Crampons now perform more aggressively on technical terrain. While the secondary point configuration still provides secure stability in soft ice or snow, new serrated teeth on the primary points offer a better bite when pulling onto ledges or mushrooms. Horizontal frontpoints pierce the hardest of ice and smear amazing well on rock. Unique “outboard” midpoints provide excellent traction under foot, a natural flex and good compactability. A new powder coating with Teflon® enhances durability and sheds snow better. Our Clip version sports a new flexible, dual-density toe strap that is designed to work on boots without a front toe welt. With a one-size-fits-all design that makes them a sure fit on virtually any boot, the Sabretooths are our most versatile crampons, excelling in snow, ice and on mixed terrain. One size fits all (US men’s 4-12/Euro men’s 36-46).

Weight: 1.06 kg (2 lb 5 oz)

*Serrated teeth for better climbing performance
*Horizontal frontpoints penetrate hard ice and smear well on rock
*Powder coating enhances durability and sheds snow better
*Clip version offers flexible, dual-density toe strap

Technical Specifications:
Horizontal Dual points (forged)
Semi-rigid
Weight: 2 lbs 4 oz

Author

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randy hill
green horn

Registered: Sat Nov 6, 2004
Posts: 49

Review Date: Thu Dec 16, 2004

Recommend? yes | Price paid: $115.00 | Rating: 8

Pros:	all around use, light weight, no snowballs
Cons:	flat front points walk on thin ice

Excellent all around crampon. Doesn't snowball up with the flat rails. Secondary points give you lots of stability on steep ice. Not the best for steep waterfall ice, drop your heel and off you come! Also, on very thin ice when you dont have the secondary points in they then to walk around and feel very unstable. Thinking about uograding to a mono-point, but otherwise they're the perfect starter crampon.

icetool44
-

Registered: Wed Nov 10, 2004
Posts: 21

Review Date: Fri Dec 17, 2004

Recommend? yes | Price paid: $135.00 | Rating: 10

Pros:	Better secondaries than many. The most versatile crampon out there.
Cons:	Some might feel that 2 flat blades chop up the ice more than 2 (or 1 mono) vertical points.

World Cup winner Will Gadd swears by these and he actually climbs mix in them as I saw at Festiglace last year, and he can use whatever he wants for free. I have climbed WI5 in Bionics, M10's, Rambocomps and Sabertooths, and found no drawback to the Sabertooth. They may be less likely to blowout through the ice than vertical points. I like the support on Alpine approaches and descents, they reduce posthole depths by increasing surface area.

I appreciate the comment from prev. reviewer about not dropping your heels too far, maybe they would slip off, but I guess I can't get me heels down that low. Check 'em out mounted on your boots, that heel has to drop quite a bit to get below level on the points. I get more trouble (on ANY crampons)if my heels are too HIGH, like when topping out on a bulge if I don't get the feet high enough, causing a ripout.

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