A fall on ice is the injury most UK winters guarantee. Black ice on the school run, a frosted path to the bins, a hill track that's frozen hard by afternoon — a slip on any of them can mean a broken wrist or a cracked hip, and the risk is worst for older walkers and anyone caring for them. A pair of ice grips — the rubber-and-metal traction devices that stretch over the shoes or boots you already own — is one of the cheapest and most effective bits of winter safety kit you can buy. The catch is that "ice grips" covers three quite different designs, and fitting the wrong one for the surface is either useless or, occasionally, dangerous. This guide covers the types, how to pick the right one for pavements versus hills, sizing and fit, and how to use them safely.
Grips do one job: they keep you upright. Pair them with the rest of a sensible winter walk — a head torch or torch for dark mornings and evenings, hand warmers and a thermal base layer if you'll be out a while, and a small first aid kit in the bag. For the wider picture, read our winter walking safety kit.
The three types — and which surface each is for
Almost every ice grip on the market is one of three designs, and the design matters far more than the brand. Coil or spring grips — the Yaktrax Walk is the classic — wrap steel coils under the sole. They give confident traction on packed snow and ordinary icy pavements, are low-profile and comfortable to walk in for miles, and are the sensible default for town, commuting and dog-walking. What they don't do is bite into thick, glassy ice or frozen hill tracks the way spikes do.
Spike or stud grips carry a cluster of short metal studs — often a dozen or two dozen, as on the Unigear 24-spike crampons — set into a rubber harness. They bite hard into solid ice, frozen ruts and steep frosted paths, which makes them the better choice for country lanes, hill paths and anywhere the ice is thick rather than a thin glaze. The trade-off is that on bare pavement, tarmac or indoor floors those studs are noisy, slippery and wear quickly, so they're a boots-on-at-the-gate item rather than something to walk into the shop wearing. A third group — micro-crampons with longer, aggressive teeth such as the Salewa Puez spikes — sits between winter walking grips and true mountaineering crampons, aimed at serious frozen hill terrain rather than the pavement.
Match the grip to where you actually walk
Be honest about your winter walking before you buy. If it's mostly pavements, car parks and short trips to the car or the bins, coil grips like the Yaktrax are the right call: comfortable, quiet enough, and grippy on the packed snow and glaze that town ice actually is. If you regularly take frozen field paths, bridleways or hill tracks, buy a spike grip that bites into solid ice. If you do both, a spike grip covers more ground but is less pleasant on the mixed pavement-and-ice of a normal street — many people keep coil grips by the door for daily use and a spike pair in the car or rucksack for rougher outings. What you should not do is buy aggressive hill crampons for the school run: the long teeth are unstable on hard pavement and skate on shop floors.
Sizing and fit — the bit people get wrong
Ice grips are sized to your footwear, not your foot, and they must fit tightly to stay on. Buy for the shoes or boots you'll actually wear them over — winter boots are bulkier than trainers, so if you'll swap between the two, size for the larger. A grip that's too big rolls, twists underfoot or pings off mid-stride, which is worse than no grip at all because you don't expect it. Check the manufacturer's size chart against your shoe size and err towards a snug fit; the rubber harness should stretch on with real tension and sit flat, with the studs or coils squarely under the sole rather than skewed to one side. Reinforced or strap-over toe and heel designs stay put better on rough ground than a plain stretch band.
Getting them on, and using them safely
Fit grips before you step onto the ice, not after you've already slipped — do it in the porch, at the car, or at the gate where you've something to hold. Take them off before you go indoors or onto a hard, dry floor: coils and especially studs are slippery on tile, laminate and smooth shop floors, and cause exactly the kind of fall you bought them to prevent. Walk flat-footed and a little slower than usual, plant each foot deliberately, and shorten your stride — grips give traction but they don't make ice behave like dry ground, so keep hands out of pockets for balance and take extra care on slopes, kerbs and metal drain covers. Check the coils or studs at the start of each winter for wear and for perished rubber; the harness is the part that fails first after a few seasons in the shed.
Where ice grips earn their place in a UK kit
Grips are peak-season kit from the first hard frost to the last, and they're most valuable for the people most at risk of a bad fall — keep a pair by the door for older relatives and anyone on the winter hypothermia and cold-weather kit. They belong in the car too, alongside a folding shovel for clearing snow from around the wheels and de-icer for the screen — see winter driving survival for the full car list. Slip a pair into the grab bag or the boot before a cold snap rather than after it: read what to buy before a winter storm and the 24-hour storm-warning checklist for the wider seasonal kit. For a few pounds, a pair that lives by the door is cheap insurance against the fall that puts you in A&E.
The short version
For everyday pavements, packed snow and short trips, buy coil or spring grips like the Yaktrax Walk — comfortable, quiet and grippy on town ice. For frozen hill paths, country lanes and thick ice, buy a spike or stud grip that bites in. Size to the footwear you'll wear them over and fit them snugly; take them off indoors or on hard dry floors; and keep a pair by the door and another in the car before the frost, not after the fall. See our ice grip picks for buyable, availability-checked options.
