Kahtoola Microspikes Review

We’ve always been avid hikers, but it wasn’t until recently that we’ve started to dabble in winter hiking. We completed the relatively easy hike to Arethusa Falls in the winter with only bare boots, and did a couple of winter hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park with a pair of rented trail crampons. Winter hiking with bare boots is obviously not a viable option on the majority of hikes we plan to do, and we intend to do at least two winter hikes per year (mostly in the White Mountains of New Hampshire) so we needed to find a good pair of reliable spikes. We had both used various traction devices in the past but were never totally sold. Either the spikes themselves weren’t long enough to effectively grip packed snow or the rubber harness would pop off our boots while hiking. We asked around and did our research and determined that our best bet were Kahtoola Microspikes. On the spectrum of Kahtoola products, these fall somewhere in between the Nanospikes and the Hiking Crampons, which is exactly what we were looking for.

Over the past weekend, we took the microspikes out on two test runs up to Lake Solitude and Mt. Tom in New Hampshire and we could not have been happier with how well they performed on the trails. Over a foot of snow had fallen a few days prior to our hikes, but they had been well-traversed so that the trails were firmly packed and did not require snowshoes.

The Microspikes

Each foot has twelve 3/4″ stainless steel spikes, with eight in the front and four in the back. They were perfect for gripping the tightly packed snowy surface and even better on the icy patches. Our friends who accompanied us up Mt. Tom had two different brands of traction devices that, while they ultimately got them from point A to point B, were definitely less effective on the steeper sections of the trail. The effectiveness of the microspikes was most evident on the descent of Mt. Tom where much of the trail was essentially just a bobsled track. In many instances we chose to simply slide down the trail because that’s just way more fun, but when we descended on foot, walking down steep, slippery sections of trail was no more difficult than walking across the sidewalk. The spikes gripped deeply into the snow and provided tremendous stability. Furthermore, they fit perfectly and comfortably and we never had any issues with them popping off our boots or getting snow packed in between the spikes.

The fact that they are lightweight (11-14 ounces per pair) and come with a drawstring pouch make them easy to pack away in the event that you need to switch to snowshoes or bare-boot at any point during a hike. Obviously, having only used them a few times, we can’t speak to their durability or longevity just yet, but everything we’ve read and observed lead us to believe that they will stand the test of time. Not to mention the two year warranty doesn’t hurt.

Overall we were thrilled with our new microspikes and would highly recommend them to anyone looking for some new traction devices for winter hiking.

Disclaimer: We were provided with the products in exchange for our honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are our own and not influenced in any way by Kahtoola or its affiliates.

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