My parents got me these things called Yak Tracks. They are a rubber slip over for your boots when walking on snow/ice. They have wire wrapped around part of rubber webbing. I wore my pair up to the North Shore of Lake Superior this December. Snow and ice is everywhere, with the location of the ice not always being very obvious. I noticed several times that the Yak Tracks saved me from slipping. Great stuff, no more broken equipment, no more broken me!