Back in November we blogged about Jerry Lynch trialling a pair of new Wolf Claw climbing spurs from Treetools. As it happens, Jerry passed the Claws onto Alvar del Castillo de Aguinaga, a climbing arborist with Treescape Wellington. Here's what Alver had to say:
"Having spurs tied to your calves and feet and then spending several hours up a tree is never going to be a particularly comfortable experience. Numb feet and metal digging into the calf muscle as the spurs twist is generally what happens to me. The new Wolf Claw spurs aren’t the miracle cure but they come a long way to improving on some of the faults found in other climbing spur designs.
For a start the padded sheath that wraps around the calfis supported on both sides of the leg stopping the whole thing from twisting around. That means they don’t dig into your inner calf as they have a robustshell to evenly hold your weight. These features give the Wolf Claws much more stability while climbing. However, when bending your leg, the top of thesheath does inhibit bending the full radius of the knee. Perhaps a curved top-back-edge would solve this minor issue.I found the Wolf Claw spurs (they got nicknamed the Robocop spurs) really easy to get on and off, the whole thing lends its self to being worn as thebuckles and straps are easy to attach. They also don’t have to be worn as tight as other spurs since the structure allows for some foot movement. The gaffhas three different positions. These can be easily changed to suit your needs by unbolting the gaff and sliding it along pre-set holes. They also comewith a handy set of gaff guards to avoid spiking yourself.
Overall, the Wolf Claws are a big improvement comfort-wise although I still got numb feet after eight hours up the tree! Perhaps the new ergonomic designof the Wolf Claws will be perfected over time to make using spurs feel more like second nature".
Thanks to Alver (and Jerry) for this review.
