I have a pair of Grivel G14 crampomatics that I bought for WI climbing with my LS Nepal Evos. I'd used them a couple times before and liked them, but two weeks ago I spent several days at Lee Vining Canyon, focussing on my footwork and efficiency on WI. One thing I noticed is that the G14 front points stick out in front of the boot significantly less than some other crampons (e.g., Petzl Sarkens, or even BD Sabretooth alpine crampons). The angle of the G14 points and the position of the secondary points, at least when they are on the Nepals, require me to drop my heels quite a lot to get a secure stance compared to some other crampons I borrowed for comparison. I know the toe bail is movable, and moved the bail back to the rear holes, which helps a little.

Have other people run into this issue with Nepals and G14s? Is it simply a matter of "they're designed to work that way, improve your technique and they'll be great" or do others prefer crampons with more prominent front points on the Nepals?

JHH60 wrote:I have a pair of Grivel G14 crampomatics that I bought for WI climbing with my LS Nepal Evos. I'd used them a couple times before and liked them, but two weeks ago I spent several days at Lee Vining Canyon, focussing on my footwork and efficiency on WI. One thing I noticed is that the G14 front points stick out in front of the boot significantly less than some other crampons (e.g., Petzl Sarkens, or even BD Sabretooth alpine crampons). The angle of the G14 points and the position of the secondary points, at least when they are on the Nepals, require me to drop my heels quite a lot to get a secure stance compared to some other crampons I borrowed for comparison. I know the toe bail is movable, and moved the bail back to the rear holes, which helps a little.

Have other people run into this issue with Nepals and G14s? Is it simply a matter of "they're designed to work that way, improve your technique and they'll be great" or do others prefer crampons with more prominent front points on the Nepals?

I haven't used G14s, but I think that is what is great about them, because they're more general mountaineering 'pons and are designed for ease of use on less vertical terrain. I have more aggressive crampons for WI and hate walking in them.

I believe the G14s are actually an alpine crampon designed to keep your foot closer to the ice.

I use the same combination and have also noticed that the G14s front points start well back from the toe of the boot. Although I've played with the crampons, including moving the bail back, I've not been able to find a setting on which the crampon is both secure and the front points are further forward. Above posts suggests this is the way they're meant to fit?

Brad Marshall wrote:I believe the G14s are actually an alpine crampon designed to keep your foot closer to the ice.

Grivel markets them as suitable for alpine, water ice, and mixed, but less WI-specific than the Rambos. I was hoping to use them for relatively technical alpine ice and WI. have a pair of G12s which I like a lot, so decided to try the G14s.

JHH60 wrote:Grivel markets them as suitable for alpine, water ice, and mixed, but less WI-specific than the Rambos. I was hoping to use them for relatively technical alpine ice and WI. have a pair of G12s which I like a lot, so decided to try the G14s.

If you already owned G12s, I would've gotten Rambos to complement. I know many people who climb up to even WI4 in G12s. Rambos are a pleasure in pure WI and mixed.

welle wrote:

JHH60 wrote:Grivel markets them as suitable for alpine, water ice, and mixed, but less WI-specific than the Rambos. I was hoping to use them for relatively technical alpine ice and WI. have a pair of G12s which I like a lot, so decided to try the G14s.

If you already owned G12s, I would've gotten Rambos to complement. I know many people who climb up to even WI4 in G12s. Rambos are a pleasure in pure WI and mixed.

Yeah, well, live and learn. Anyone wanna buy a nice used set of G14s? I have spare front points to go with them (got them when it seemed like Grivel was going to stop distributing in North America).

Ebay during ice season should be a pretty good ROI

Some friends with nepals prefer Camp Vectors. Another friend does just fine with his G14's and nepals.

Camp and Cassin recently merged, so I'm not sure what the future of the vectors are, but the Cassin C14's are now available in the US again. I've been using them on my asolo leathers since 2007. They are pretty similar to the vectors in terms of fit, but I like them more.

I've owned and sold off a bunch of different WI crampons. The other ones I kept are the old grivel rambo 3's and a rather beat-up pair of BD sabretooths.

I tried to like G14's for waterfall ice and used them on alpine ice for a few years. When set up as monopoints they are fun to play with on thin / mixed. Other folks climb pretty hard on them (MichaelJ ?)

To each his own