The violino attempts to make a light showshoe by attaching directly to your crampons. It also has an adjustable length to fit different boot sizes. Rear heel bar lifters can be adjusted when the trail gets steep and reduce calf strain. Can be broken down into 2 parts to aid in packing.
leejams - Feb 8, 2003 11:23 am - Voted 1/5
Untitled ReviewI bought these as the concept of wearing your own crampons appealed to me. However, that fails miserably as well. Problem being the binding is set to high from the bottom and the crampon points barely stick down enough to grab on icy surfaces.
Another aspect I looked at was the adjustable length which sounded great. However, once again flawed as you need 2 hands and one foot and almost superhuman strength to adjust them. They did not slide well at all and I tried a little oil to lubricate the parts with no luck.
After 1/4 mile on a ridge I decided to turn around and descend as It was not fun twisting my ankle with every step. Upon the descent somewhere the heel lifter part of the binding came completely off making the now horrible snowshoes completely useless. With no hope of finding the piece in 6 feet of snow.
Upon returning I contacted grivel and was told basically it must be me and they would send a new heel lifter. I expected much more from a well respected company. They have lost a customer for good as I will never even attempt to buy a grivel product again.
Also an update as these snowshoes are hard to find. The website where I had noticed them have now pulled them off there shelves. I guess I was one of the unlucky ones to get one of the last.