Ski Crampon Compatibility: A Practical Guide

Ski crampons are traction for when skins stop being traction. Firm spring mornings, refrozen skintracks, wind-scoured ridges, sidehills, this is where a thin strip of steel becomes the most important thing in your pack.

The tricky part isn’t understanding why they exist. It’s figuring out which ones actually fit. Ski crampons don’t mount to skis, they mount to bindings, and binding manufacturers have opinions. Different toe designs, different attachment bars, different clearances. Two crampons can look like twins and still refuse to work on the same setup.

That’s why this isn’t a “grab your ski width and call it a day” situation. Compatibility comes first, width comes second, and little details like centering and clearance matter more than most people expect.

Before you scroll, compare, or roll the dice, there’s a clean way to get this right and it’s easier than it looks once you know the order.

The Right Order of Operations

1. Identify your binding — the exact model, not just the brand stamped on the ski.
   
   
2. Match the crampon interface your binding is designed to accept. This is the hard line; if the interface doesn’t match, nothing else matters. When in doubt, choose the same ski crampon brand as your binding brand.
   
   
3. Third, choose a crampon that’s wider than your ski’s waist*. This isn’t optional: if the crampon is narrower than the ski underfoot, the teeth won’t reach the snow and you'll end up damaging your equipment. As a rule of thumb, aim for a crampon that’s roughly 2–10 mm wider than your ski’s waist so the teeth actually engage when things get firm.
   
   *If the crampon width matches your ski’s waist exactly (for example a 100mm ski crampon on a 100mm ski), compatibility becomes case-by-case and needs to be test-fit in person to confirm proper engagement and clearance.
   

Follow that sequence and ski crampons will fade into the background, doing their job quietly.

Ski Crampon Attachment Styles 

Dynafit-Style Bar* (The Tech Standard)

This is the reference point for most tech bindings. A straight metal bar, typically around 6 mm in diameter, slides into a receiver slot behind the toe piece and is usually kept centered by a plastic or metal clip. The system works because it’s simple and widely adopted, but it’s also sensitive to small differences in slot depth, bar diameter, and toe-housing shape. A few millimetres, or a bit of ice buildup, can be enough to cause loose engagement or prevent the crampon from dropping fully.

*Certain Dynafit crampons now feature two deeper notches on either side of the centering notch. This new "quick-in" system fits the same as the classic Dynafit bar, but it is a bit more tricky to interface on ATK bindings. 

Bar With Small Window (ATK)

At first glance, this looks identical to a classic Dynafit bar, using the same approximate 6 mm diameter, but with less clearance behind the bar. That reduced window makes the system lighter and lower-profile, but also far less forgiving. Bindings with bulkier toe housings can interfere with insertion, making this interface pickier about what it works with.

Marker Pintech Bar

The Pintech system stays within the bar-style family but adds forgiveness. The bar diameter is similar to Dynafit, yet the receiver opening is larger, allowing easier insertion and more tolerance for alignment. This makes it one of the more adaptable bar systems, although the trade-off is that it can feel slightly less locked-in on some bindings.

Plum Interface

This system uses a bar-like engagement, but the crampon features a centering barrel that keys into the toe geometry with tight manufacturing tolerances. It’s the interface used by Plum, and it also works with Salomon, Atomic, and Armada pin bindings that share the same geometry. When matched correctly, the result is a very solid, laterally stable connection with almost no play. When mismatched, it simply doesn’t work, as there’s no room for approximation.

G3 System - Proprietary

Instead of a bar, this design uses metal hooks that clip directly into dedicated receivers on the binding. Because engagement depends entirely on hook spacing and binding shape, the fit is secure with no lateral slop. That precision comes at a cost, however, as the system is fully proprietary and doesn’t  cross over to other bindings or crampons.

Fritschi Vipec / Tecton System - Proprietary

This proprietary interface uses side pins that engage directly with the binding rather than sliding in from the rear. Pin spacing and diameter are binding-specific, leaving no room for adapters or workarounds.

Salomon / Atomic Shift Interface - Proprietary

Although it resembles a standard bar system, the proprietary Shift crampon features two centering notches and a raised shape designed specifically to allow the crampon to sit over the AFP pad of the Shift binding. While the bar may physically fit into other bindings, the crampon will sit incorrectly and cause damage, making it effectively Shift-only.

Marker Duke PT Interface - Proprietary

The Duke PT uses a bar-style crampon adapted to its removable alpine toe, with unique geometry and engagement depth. It’s built to handle heavier skis and higher forces, but that specificity means Duke PT crampons only work on Duke PT bindings, and other crampons won’t seat correctly.

Compatibility Chart

¹ Atk bindings, including bindings that are manufactured by ATK for other companies: Black Diamond Helio, Hagan, Moment, DPS, Elan, etc.

² Dynafit Speed and Rotation bindings have an elongated base and a recessed crampon attachment. "Small window" crampons do not clear the longer plastic base, causing malfunction. 

³ Compatibility depends on the boot sole length used for the binding mount. Marker Kingpin bindings use a walk/ski lever that sits between the toe and heel pieces. On longer mounts, typically around a 28.5 boot sole and up, a Dynafit-style crampon clears the base of that lever and works as intended. On shorter mounts, the crampon contacts the walk/ski lever instead, causing interference and making it incompatible.