Aluminum crampons are great. I’d shied away from them after a friend advised, “When I really need crampons, I really want steel.” A couple of years later, my awesome girlfriend (who was tired of waiting for slowpants) got a pair for my birthday. They get the job done.
As important as climbing ability is their light weight. The Neves are 52% of the weight of my venerable cro-moly Sabreteeth; more than a pound lighter. The weight advantage makes them easy to bring along when the need for ‘pons is uncertain. I’ve used them on half the trips on which I’ve carried them; such was the summer in the Cascades.
The aluminum points stand up much better than expected to alpine rock. They wear and flex, but not quickly nor easily. While their forte is softer snow, when sharp they worked well on glazed autumn melt-freeze. They fit Mondo 30 ZZeros, Dynafit ONEs, and La Sportiva Trango S well, with room (!) for adjustment. The weights quoted here are, due to a little wear, slight underestimates of the weight when new. I’d guess I’ve worn 0.1-0.2 g of aluminum off each foot. There may be some dust in the straps, but not very much.
The weights/masses: 294.2 g for one, and 294.5 g for the other. Roughly 588.7±0.5 grams/pair. The Black Diamond web page claims 576 grams/pair in December 2012. The pair weighed here was purchased in Autumn 2011; I can’t find a product page from 2011 for comparison. If the crampon/hardware is unchanged, then the product weight is 2% higher than advertised.
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Measured Mass 