I've used the Viper crampons on my Tubbs Katahdin's for many years now, and can vouch for the "grippiness". In fact, a couple of my friends back in New England put the old aluminum crampons back on because the Vipers caused them to do face plants on the way down.
The stainless steel is pretty rugged. I've probably put a couple of thousand miles of them (I used to do ALOT of winter hiking back in the NE) and points are still fairly sharp.
