Yaktrax

A useful gift for urban dwellers, commuters, backpackers and seniors. Although this neon green, stretchy, rubbery, ribbed and expandable product sounds like a condom, it actually goes over your shoe so you don’t fall on your ass. Pretty handy, eh? They’re marketed primarily to rugged sportster folks—but anyone without a vehicle (i.e. me this winter) can put them to good use. Backpackers brave enough for snow-inspired travel in a country without a snow plow schedule will rejoice. And for those who like to explore a new city with an early morning winter run, YaxTrax are especially handy. But be careful, everyone can hear you coming from a mile away. It’s the Saving, positioning, catching, gripping so-you-survive-streets-where they-don’t-shovel-accessory, and in some parts of the world it’s winter!