YakTrax Pro - Snow grips for shoes

Given the impending 'Big Freeze' I thought it would be a good idea to get hold of some snow grips, mainly due to the fact my wife is pregnant and I would like her not to fall over and break something on the ridiculously icy pavements we have had for the past 2 years.

As an aside 2 years ago we were leaving her parents house after dinner and a man (a inebriated man with a very smelly kebab) fell over on the ice next to our car. We went to see if he was okay but he couldn't get up, turns out he broke the bones in his shin/ankle so bad the pierced the skin leaving his foot wobbling about at the end of his leg.

Now he may have been drunk but it doesn't take much to fall over and I was shocked at how thoroughly snapped his leg was.

On that pleasant anecdote I give you the Yaktrax Pro!



These strap onto your shoes and apparently increase traction on ice and compacted snow dramatically. The 'Pro' version seen here adds a strap across the toe of you shoes and is about £4 or £5 more expensive than the standard YackTrax.

Now there are many different makes of snow grips for shoes, most opt for metal studs/spikes.
The Yaktrax are a bit different as the have a system of clever metal coils which bite into the ice/snow and give grip in all directions.

Crucially they are reported to be fairly easy to walk on when surfaces happen to be free of ice/snow. This is great as the pavements can be very variable and also when going shopping taking them on and off every 5 minutes would could get tedious, most spike/stud based systems leaving you rocking around on ice free surfaces.


Unfortunately we have no snow or ice to test them out but I will post an update when the conditions allow for testing.


P.S. we called an ambulance, wrapped some blankets around him and kept him conscious till they arrived so all was ok in the end...