My wife and I have been using the Yaktrax Ski (previously known as Skitrax) for about 2 years now. We just got back from a skiing trip in Utah, and it reminded me how much I absolutely love using these things.

The product is a rubber sole that slips over the binding clips at the front and back of ski boots. They come in four sizes, each corresponding to a “Mondo” range that you can read off your boot. If they are just a little too tight at first, they can be stretched slightly. If they are a little too loose, putting a twist in the middle can shorten them slightly. Better to err on the tight side, so they don’t come off while walking.

The basic function of the Yaktrax is to protect the plastic binding clips on your boots from getting ground down and distorted from walking in parking lots and on concrete. From that perspective, a $20 investment to protect boots that easily cost $600 makes a lot of sense.

The real benefit, though, it the ease of walking you get with these things. Ever try walking in ski boots? It’s awkward, precarious, and unpleasant. I’ve fallen on slick surfaces in a ski cafe (a little kid’s spilled Coke), sending lunch flying across the room. Getting up and down stairs in ski boots is even worse.

With the Yaktrax, all of these things become pretty easy. They grip really well, so you feel sure-footed. With the Yaktrax on, I can almost jog in ski boots, and I can get up and down stairs with lunch trays and skis in total confidence. They actually make walking in ski boots somewhat fun, mostly because I take a cruel pleasure in how much harder it is for everyone else!

There are a few different flavors of ski boot protectors, and the most common one seem to be the Serius “Cat Tracks” product. I’ve never used those, but I’ve tried them out in stores — they are much flimsier and looser fitting than Yaktrax, and I can’t see any advantage of them other that that they are trivially smaller in size when folded.

Which brings up the Achilles heel of these products — you have to carry them in your pockets while you ski. Each one folds into itself to form a little packet, and each packet pretty much takes up a jacket pocket. That doesn’t bother me, as I have big pockets in my ski jacket and pants. My wife’s clothing is more fitted, and she gets annoyed carrying them. An instructor in Utah had a good solution for this, which was to use the much-maligned retractable Master cable lock to lock the Yaktrax to a convenient ski rack with a small, tight loop of cable. They are so inexpensive that no one would steal them, and even if they did you wouldn’t lose sleep over it.

-- Ash Ranpura 11/28/14