I have some Yaktrax around here somewhere, they work well. Wish I had them in Russia.
I did one here, out looking for the cat on a sunny 10F day. Walking briskly across the driveway, didn't
see the clear ice. Feet shot out. If some big guy had lifted me under the armpits and held me out,
had me lift my legs to 90 degrees and then dropped me, it would have been the same thing.
Hit my butt hard and felt a crunch. Couldn't move my legs for a couple of seconds, but could
wiggle my toes, so was confused. Hurt so bad I laid there for 10 minutes, no jacket, had expected
to go out for 2 mins max. Wife not home, no phone, so had to crawl up stairs to porch, barely
could reach up to the doorknob, fell inside. Spent 15 min in the entryway, still couldn't stand,
my lower back hurt so much. Finally crawled upstairs and managed to get into bed and lay
flat. After about 2 hours I could get up and walk slowly and carefully. Aspirin helped a lot.
After a couple of days with chem heat pads it was "workable". Went to the doc fearing that
I may have broken something. He took Xray and pronounced it "soft tissue injury". Heat pads
for another two weeks made it bearable. Totally fine now, six or eight years later, but I am
way more careful in icy weather, and use the Yaktrax if it is known to be icy.
Gravity can be a b*tch.
Bill