Jane said:I purchased Yaktrax this year and glad I did. I wanted to stay on the
trails as long as possible this year so my dog can run off leash. The
trails have been really icy. Our temperatures (up to recently) had been
hovering around 0 C so it would melt in the day and freeze at night. I was
running the trails one day and passed a woman who asked me how I could run
when she was having trouble walking on the ice. Highly recommended under
these conditions.
Jane
If you get cold and ice, that is the ice is hard, you might want to
consider screw shoes, ice joggers, or stabilicers. Where I am, yaktrax
tend to skid off the ice since there's nothing sharp to dig in and they
keep your shoe off the ice so reduces traction further - or at least
that's my experience. My yaktrax (original and pro) sit unused while I
run trails in snowshoes, stabilicers, or ice joggers (and on rare
occasion, just my shoes). The yaktrax are ok in snow or soft ice like
you get near freezing, but really treacherous on black ice, at least
where I am.
Also, I think there's more traction while running than while walking,
since there's a stronger footplant (more vertical). At least that's what
I think I've seen on some of my runs this winter, when I was going to
take a walk break and decided it wasn't worth it.
FWIW, we had a lot of ice last year also, and I was struggling with
yaktrax. I noticed many others doing just fine - and not one person was
wearing yaktrax besides myself. Many also had poles.
Just some different experiences from up north.
Dot
--
Just wing it, it's an adventure; don't think about strategy.
~Julie Udchachon, in reference to the upcoming Susitna 2006
