Crampons. You know things are getting serious when you are putting crampons in your bag. There’s expectation of high mountains, of snow and ice, of adventure, and of some fairly serious mountaineering.

Once you’ve got them, they’ll goad you. There’s nothing worse than seeing a little-used pair of crampons in your gear shed to make you book your next mountain trip.

“So often a pair of crampons can feel like walking with concrete blocks on your feet, but these have a lovely roll to them.”

But it doesn’t all have to be Himalayan ascents. Crampons can also be required on even relatively benign mountain expeditions. On an autumn walk up to Snowdon over Y Lliwedd, that was snowy on the top, Mpora was grateful for crampons. We used them on another occasion scrambling up one of the gullies onto Kinder Scout in the Peak District in the height of winter. Even if you’re not heading off anywhere exotic, crampons will open up a whole new snowy world.

For big mountain days we’ve often returned to Black Diamond’s brilliantly named Snaggletooth crampons. There are a multitude of different crampons depending on what you’ll be using them for and these are our pick for classic mountaineering routes.