About 2 years ago we were hiking the popular Johnston Canyon Trail in Banff, Alberta. This trail in the winter can be quite slippery depending on how many times it has melted only to refreeze. That year we were with my parents and my mother insisted that I wear one of her Yaktrax hiking spikes on my feet. I am pretty surefooted but decided to suck up my pride and put one on my right foot. While I had our 1 year old daughter on my back, I made sure that my mother kept one her foot because I did not want her slipping on her bad back. The trail that day was extremely slippery and people without traction were constantly slipping. I will not forget what happened next and feeling relieved that I had a pair of traction on my feet.

About 3 meters in front of us was a family with a young daughter around the age of 8. A little back story. The majority of the Johnston Canyon hike is on a cat walk but this particular portion was on the edge of a switch back and has a railing. One minute the 8 year old girl was there and the next she was gone. She had slipped underneath the railing and fell about 8 meters down on the trail below. Luckily she was ok besides some bruising but it could have turned out way worse. Now, I am a huge advocate for carrying and then wearing some sort of traction device on the feet while traveling on slippery trails.

*We were given Yaktrax Summits in order to facilitate this review however all views remain 100% my own.

Yaktrax Summit Review

A recent addition to the Yaktrax family and a solid step up in grip from previous models is the Yaktrax Summit. Our family has used them on a few hikes with our two kids aged 2 and 4, including walking up the side of a slippery waterfall.

Yaktra Summit Features

– Boa® Closure System provides Fast, Comfortable, & Secure Fit
– Aggressive traction on packed snow and glacial ice
– Triangular spike design grips on sloped surfaces
– Segmented Sole Plates flex with foot and prevent snow build up
– Easy on, Easy off
– Rugged Heavy Duty Design

Strong Grip = No Slipping

The Yaktrax summit pack in some serious grip vs the coiled grips on the Yaktrax walk and work series. They are ideal for more slippery rugged terrain like trying to summit a hike on an icy mountain. We have used them on packed snow and ice but to really test out the grip I walked up the side of a waterfall. The waterfall was impossible to get up with shoes alone and to be honest I was afraid I would fall straight on my face. However, the grip provided by the 10 triangular spikes on each foot proved to be very effective. I was impressed.

Snug Fit with the Boa Closure System

The Yaktrax Summit completely open up making them easy to get on. Once they are on they can be tightened at the back by turning the Boa Closure System. After tightening the back they felt really secure which both my husband and I loved. There was a few times that they seemed to loosen up a little bit and it may have been because we did not push the button in to lock it in place. After some adjusting we found that they stayed tight on our hikers.

Easy on Easy Off

Getting them on and off was relatively easy. As mentioned above, they pull all the way open and the get tightened on the back. To get them off the back locking system pulls out and they stretch all the way open. That means you do not need to struggle with pulling it over your shoe to get them on or off. There is little muscle involved to puttin them on.

High End Grip

The Yaktrax Summit come with alot of high end features like the triangular spikes and Boa closure system. They work great on those icy summit winter adventures. But, with those additions comes a higher price. They cost $120 CAD on their website which is a little on the high end if you are not hiking on icy mountains.