For longer and steeper slopes or glacier travel, crampons are pretty much mandatory for a safe climb.

Crampons are a framework of metal spikes that are attached to your feet to provide traction on ice or steep snow.

Crampons revolutionized mountaineering by allowing the climber to march up terrain where nailed boots provided inadequate security, necessitating chopped steps.

General purpose crampons designed for most mountaineering are not well suited for vertical ice climbing. For ice climbing, specialized crampons that provide better support for front pointing is advised.

Front pointing is accomplished through the use of crampons with two front-slanting points or spikes, which allow traction to be concentrated at the toe of the climber's boots.

Due to the added stress and tiring effect on the legs, climbers who regularly use this technique will wear rigid crampons versus the hinged used for more general mountaineering on steep snow slopes or glaciers.

Hinged crampons provide flex at the instep and bend with the natural motion of walking and thus are the preferred style for almost any type of mountaineering except steep technical ice climbing.

A rigid crampon does not bend at the instep so when climbing up steep technical ice, they allow the climber to keep their heel lower when front-pointing, thus less tiring as a result.

However, rigid crampons tend to be heavier and will not perform as well in mixed terrain.

Crampons are usually made of hardened steel, but lighter weight aluminum crampons are popular for alpine ski touring where the need for them is less frequent & counterbalanced by the need for a light pack yielding fast, efficient travel over long distances.

One problem with crampons is the dangerous build-up of snow in the underside of your crampons, which if allowed to happen prevents the crampon points from working, leading to slips and stumbles.

To prevent this, most crampons can be fitted with anti-balling plates.

The variety of crampons available today is stunning but the type of climbing you choose to do generally determines the attributes required of your crampons.