TRY THE SPIKES Check out Kahtoola’s MicroSpikes atwww.kahtoola.com/microspikes.html. Cost is $59.

On slick, snowy terrain

By MICHAEL MOORE of the Missoulian

Every year, cool new stuff bursts onto the winter landscape.

Snowboards, skis, bindings, ice axes, snowshoes, you name it.

Undoubtedly, all are eminently spectacular and the fact that I?do without most of them is a wonder.

The deal with the yearly emergence of new winter gear is that most of it is just like last year's gear. Sure, sweeping changes come along every once in a while – next to nobody wants to go back to straight skis after skiing on shaped boards.

And nobody who's ever swung an ice ax at a frozen waterfall wants to use a straight ax for technical climbing again.

But most year-to-year changes are decidedly incremental. A better use of carbon, or a lighter laminate sandwich in a ski.

Which is not to say they're totally unnecessary, but odds are you'll live without them.

That said, Kahtoola's MicroSpikes may be completely indispensable. They're not entirely new, but they're not that easy to find locally either, so discovering them is a bit like finding that the last present under the Christmas tree – the one with no one's name on it – is intended for you.

MicroSpikes are a cross between Yaktrax and full-on crampons. Sort of crampon lite. They're not what you want if your winter running takes you over a lot of bare pavement, but if you're going off-road, they're the bomb.

For anyone who's ever taken off for the summit of Mount Sentinel on a winter's day, MicroSpikes were built for you.

Like Yaktrax and the less-good and now discontinued Kako Ice Trekker, the Spikes slip over most any shoe with a rubber ring – technically it's called a “shoe harness.”

The Spikes come in four sizes, and from what I can tell you're better off to go with the tightest possible fit. That leaves little room for slippage.

Unlike Yaktrax, which I also like, the Spikes feature a stainless chain and three-eighths-inch spikes. The Yaktrax, by way of comparison, involves a rubber core wrapped in a springy coil.

I've found the Yaktrax useful on flat trails, but on more precarious terrain, they tend to roll a bit. The Spikes have no such problem.

In fact, I'd be inclined to wear MicroSpikes nearly anywhere I'd wear crampons, other than technical ice and hardcore mountaineering.

They're super-light and will fit on just about any shoe, from trail runners to Sorels. They also can be folded up tightly enough to fit in a jacket pocket.

Unlike crampons, they're easy to walk with and pose no danger to the inside of your calves.

Given all that, I've put these babies on my Christmas list.

It's possible that K2's new, top-of-the-line snowboard may have some advantage over my Zeppelin, but it's probably not a difference I'd notice.

MicroSpikes, however, I'll notice every time I'm not slipping on that last bit of precarious trail at the top of Sentinel.

Reporter Michael Moore can be reached at 523-5252 or at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .