Reviews: CAMP Tour 350 crampon

The favorite tool, perfect for mountain ski, alpine climbing trips or fast and light mountaineering. It is the preferred for all those trips where we want to move light, carry the lowest possible weight and enjoy the most.

Do aluminum crampons break easily?

Aluminum crampons are reputed to be easily broken. The 350 Tour is manufactured with  7075 T6 aluminum, an aluminum alloy, zinc and other metals that give it exceptional resistance. The first aluminium alloy was used in the Second World War by Japanese for making the structure of the aeroplanes. Since then it is usde in every area where strength and lightness are fundamental.

From our experience , after 3 years testing a pair of XLC 490 crampon and one year testing a pair of Tour 350, both made in by CAMP, our expectations have been exceeded. After testing both models with numerous climbs in the Pyrenees and Alps we have seen that the widespread fame of extreme fragility of aluminum crampons is not fair. Our tests have not been limited to easy hikes on snow terrain, we also test it climbing 4 thousand summits in the Alps like “Barra des Ecrins” and mountaineering ascents and difficult steps with vertical ice climbing and mixed. Our conclusion is definitely that aluminum crampons do not break so easily.

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Pure lightness

As the name suggests only weighs 350 grams per pair (!), Between half and a third of the usual weight of most crampons. Maximum lightness to appreciate when we have to load them into the backpack, barely noticed his presence in our knapsack. Low mass equals greater agility in our movements, especially if we are used to represent the classic ballast crampons over 1 kg.

It is a small structure crampon has 10 points enough for most situations (remembering that it is not a crampon for technical ascents). Thanks to these two points less we reduce the weight and size of the tool and thus to keep the volume is much more compact. It is the ideal companion of smaller backpacks. The fastening system is available only with “automatic” closure and security tape accompanied by quick closure that helps us to reduce the time transitions.

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Field of play

The Tour 350 have been tested over a whole winter and spring in north faces with some timely passage of mixed classic climbs mountain ski, joggers and and the result has been more remarkable proving that this is the perfect crampon for departures ski mountain where much of the day we have to load in the backpack, mountain ski competition where every gram counts for maximum efficiency , but also in alpine climbs and ridges where we need crampons for the approach snowy terrreno but then we load them in the backpack while performing ascension. It is also ideal for fast and light mountaineering where we have not overcome great difficulties in snow, ice or mixed crampon.

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General data

Brand: CAMP

Model: Tour 350

Weight: 350 gr. the pair.

Material: Aluminium alloy 7075 T6

Use: ski touring / racing, alpine climbing, light and fast mountaineering.Price: 99-148€