I think some of the most frequent 'lethal' moments I've had have been in conditions when black ice has covered metalled surfaces or tarmacadam, such as lanes and pavements, or when there's been vergals on the rockier fells. When conditions are perhaps not sufficiently pervasive to call for mircrospikes, but enough to snap your collar-bone, wrist or whatever should you take a tumble.

A few years ago I invested in a pair of Inov-8 OROCs and they're still going strong, as they're only used for a couple of months a year usually.

I see the latest version now have manganese spikes to replace the older tungsten ones. Each summer, they're usually selling OROCs off with the previous year's colours at near half-price if you can afford to wait.