• DO NOT wear indoors
• DO NOT wear while driving or cycling

Yaktrax® are designed to be worn on packed snow and ice.  Products with coils need a depth of ice to bite into that is equivalent to half the depth of the coil.   Yaktrax® devices are not intended for use on gravel, concrete, or sanded roads cleared of snow, as these do not allow the coils to compress properly, resulting in damage.

Black ice is frozen atmospheric moisture which occurs in the absence of precipitation.  These invisible patches of ultra thin ice and visible white slippery frost are not deep enough for the coils to bite into.  In addition products with coils are more likely to be damaged by wearing them on hard ourdoor surfaces with thin ice than products with spikes.

Ice grips with spikes can use the irregular surface of concrete pavements and tarmac to give you a better grip in such conditions but you would still need to take extra care and the spikes would wear out.

If black ice or frost covers a shiny surface such as cobbles then none of the products will provide protection.

The thinner the ice, the smaller the profile of the gripping texture needs to be.  For frost and black ice Specialist Ltd suggest the following:

• Woollen socks worn over your footwear can reduce the risk of slipping on black ice and frosty pavements.  Grip is better when the socks are slightly damp.
• Spray or paint the bottom of an old pair of shoes or boots with water resistant adhesive, shoe repair glue or rubber roof paint and then press down into a tray of sand or grit.  Repeat this process so you have several layers.  Corundum grit used in model making is the best but any fine dry sand or grit will do.

No.  Slushy ice is often floating on a thin film of water and is particularly hazardous because of the ‘banana skin’ effect.

Sadly no.  We cannot obtain single Yaktrax® for sale or replacement straps for the Pro.

The most common cause of lost Yaktrax® is where Yaktrax® Walk pinged off or fell off because it was the wrong size or incorrectly fitted.  Less common is where a small stone has caught in the coils and cut through the rubber.

In products with coils, it is possible for a stone underfoot to get trapped in the coils.  This then cuts through the supporting rubber.  When that happens the coils have no support and become damaged underfoot. Walking over frozen rutted ground or over rocks in products with coils can bend the coils.  The bent coils then cut into and through their supporting matrix. Wearing the wrong size stretching the product too far can also break the supporting matrix.

When buying for the elderly however, there are a number of considerations:

• Make sure the elderly person knows how to fit the Yaktrax® correctly.
• Ensure they are aware that it is dangerous to wear Yaktrax® indoors, into shops or stations, while driving or cycling.
• Advise them that Yaktrax® will not protect them on hard pavement with just frost and patches of black ice.
• If they have arthritis in their hands they may not be able to stretch them properly over their footwear.

You may want to fit the Yaktrax® over an old pair of sturdy shoes or boots that are easy for the elderly person to put on and take off.  Instead of removing their Yaktrax®, they can change their footwear.  Bear in mind they may have to sit down in order to do so.

This may be because they do not yet have the relevant EU safety certificates or simply because the manufacturers or distributors have made the decision not to stock that product in the EU or the UK.