Cleats to Put on Boots for Ice Walking

From frozen lakes to snow-covered mountains, the winter can transform a landscape into a white wonderland worth exploring. Yet along with the beauty of ice and snow comes the dangers of losing traction and slipping on these wet surfaces while walking over them. Fortunately, there is a variety of cleats that you can wear over your boots to help keep traction during winter and ice walking.

  1. Abrasive Coating

    • Some styles of boot cleats come with a sandpaper-like abrasive coating along the bottom. This texture will help the wearer have more traction when walking across ice or slush, as well as other slippery surfaces such as grease and oil. This cleat design is typically made from rubber, which can be strapped around the shoe. Its bottom is lined with strips of the sandpaper-like grippers, which can be made from grains of aluminum or other metals. Unlike other ice walking cleats, this style is safe to wear indoors.

    Studs

    • Studded ice walking cleats are another option for those seeking slip-on boot covers. This style is similar to the cleat patterns found on the bottom of baseball sneakers, and are lined with a rows of square-shaped studs on the sole. These metal studs, which are sometimes covered by rubber, help the wearer maintain traction when trekking through icy conditions. The stud style can be worn to keep a grip when walking through other substances, too, such as water and mud.

    Chains

    • Similar to the chains vehicle owners put on their car tires to keep traction in the snow, you can wear chain boot cover cleats to keep solid traction when walking on ice. Many styles of these cleats come with a rubber brace to slip over the shoe and hold the chain in place across the sole. The links of the metal chain are designed to aid the wearer in keeping traction when trekking over packed snow and ice.

    Spikes

    • Spikes are another style of ice walking boot cleats that will help the wearer keep a steady foot in winter conditions. This design features metal spikes protruding from the bottom of the cleat, which can be attached to the boot with a strap. The sharp spikes grip onto slippery surfaces, including ice, snow, slush and mud, as well as wet concrete and rocks. However, this style of cleat is not recommended for indoor use, as it can damage and scrape the floor.