Purchasing Additional Micro Spikes Or Trail Crampons

2017 Winter Adirondack Adventure

Purchasing additional Micro Spikes or Trail Crampons

Kahtoola - MICROSPIKES

Are a US company based in Arizona. They make footwear called “Microspikes”. Microspikes can be found in many sports stores in Ottawa.

Website:

Toll free phone:866-330-8030

Email:

Tell Kahtoola you are a Scout Group from Canada and that you running an annual Adirondack Winter Mountain Climbing program and have purchased Microspikes each year through Paul Young-Davies. Provide your email and you will receive an email with a form to complete your order. The order form will provide approx. 50% discount on prices.

NOTE:

Kahtoola offer shipping to Canada, but it is very expensive. A good alternative is to ship to the UPS Store in Ogdensburg as this offers significant savings. However, this will require someone to travel from Ottawa, cross the Canada/US border and pick up the boxes of Microspikes. The return journey across the Canada/US Border may or may not require you to pay import taxes – it all depends on the mood of the border guard.

To adequately calculate the costs involved with a purchase of Microspikes from Kahtoola, the following elements should be kept in mind.

• UPS store charges $5US per box
• Gas costs from Ottawa/Ogdensburg and return
• Border crossing fees for bridges (2 x)
• Canadian Import taxes

Hillsound – TRAIL CRAMPONS

Are a Canadian Company based in Vancouver. They make many winter products – most notably the series of ‘Trail Crampon’ footwear which is the equivalent of the Kahtoola Microspikes.

Key products: Trail Crampon

Key products: Trail Crampon Ultra

Key products: Trail Crampon Pro

Website:

Phone:604-876-2535 (9am- 5pm PST, Monday- Friday)
Toll-Free Phone:855-554-4983 (9am- 5pm PST, Monday- Friday)

Email:

For 2017 I have volunteered to be point on collecting ‘group orders’ for any Trail Crampons for the Adirondack Adventure program.

Tell Hillsound you are a Scout Group from Ottawa, Canada and that you running an annual Adirondack Winter Mountain Climbing program. Further state that going forward, as a Canadian Scout group you would prefer to use a Canadian Company over a US company provided the costs are beneficial.

Provide your email and you will receive an email from Hillsound with a form to complete your order. The order form will provide approximately 30% discount on prices.

COMPARISON – MICRO SPIKES –vs- TRAIL CRAMPONS

The following two tables provide a comparison between Hillsound products and Kahtoola products.

Please review the tables below and ensure that you look at the product specifications that each company provides (links are provided below) and make your own decision on what product would work best for you.

From my own personal outdoor experience of using Kahtoola Microspikes and the Hillsound Trail Crampon Ultra products in the Adirondacks in 2016, there is very little to differentiate them. Both are excellent products.

From my personal perspective, price point, Canadian supplier and delivery methods tip the balance towards the Hillsound Trail Crampon Ultra.

Web site for warranty and comparison

• Kahtoola Micro Spikes:
• Hillsound: Go to bottom of each web page and click on the link for Warranty and Comparison
• Trail Crampon
• Trail Crampon Ultra

Trail Crampon Pro

Organizer:

Paul Young-Davies. (613-798-6925)