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I follow an outdoor group on facebook and one of the guys on it asked about these crampons on ebay

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They look very suspicious, they're a little too cheap and don't seem to fit very well, etc. They seem to be some kind of Grivel copies to me.

Made me think though, what kind of saftety standards/acreditions should crampons come with?

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Yes, there is an EN standard that regulates how crampons should behave to get the EN certification. Unfortunately the guide is not available for free, as far as I know.

The UIAA reccomendations mostly rely on top of the EU ones. The only added requirement by UIAA is:

In the information to be supplied the manufacturer shall draw attention to the dangers of snow balling up under the crampons when used in snow and shall advise the user how to reduce the risk.

So, I don't know what are those tests, but yes there is at least one standard (or two, if you may dare to count the UIAA as another one).

I would contact the ebay seller asking informations about this. There's no mention to any certification in the listing though so those crampons are likely not certified by any mean.

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  • Yeah, I think I'll pass on these! They look very suspect...
    – user2766
    Dec 19, 2014 at 14:27
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    Maybe as a side note: I have never read that crampons must meet any standard to be allowed to be sold. Climbing safety equipment (biners, ropes, etc.) may only be sold in the EU if they have the corresponding EN standard certification and have to be marked if they look like real climbing equipment but aren't certified. I did never hear such about crampons, so it may be allowed to sell them in the EU even without certification.
    – Benedikt Bauer
    Dec 19, 2014 at 14:43
  • I was wondering that @BenediktBauer
    – user2766
    Dec 19, 2014 at 14:43
  • Neither carabiners need to have any certifications to be sold. It's up to you to choose what destination give to them, maybe just to hang some stuff in your garage or as a keyholder.
    – Dakatine
    Dec 20, 2014 at 17:12
  • I've just read this article which is related: Dangerous crampons being sold online, states Crampons sold within the EU must conform to EN 893
    – user2766
    Feb 5, 2015 at 15:15

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