Snowshoeing Gear

[AndrewY]

Hi there everybody,

The name's Andrew, and I'm from Montréal, and I've snowshoeing experience as a scout.

Anyways, I have a few questions about snowshoe gear.

Firstly, I wonder if it would be possible to replace the bindings on a pair of IPL snowshoes? (It's very difficult to try and stretch the rubber binding over a large chunky boot ). Is it worth it? the front of my boot barely fits in the front of the binding.
It's bound to the underside like this:



And finally, I'm also considering getting a new pair of snowshoes, I've found a couple posts on kijiji that I'm skeptical of. Would these 'SnowTrek" snowshoes be any good? http://montreal.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sel ... Z419321140

Thank you,

Andrew

[EBSTEVE]

First off welcome.

I can not read the link, its in French.

[AndrewY]

Alright, the advert is basically saying they have new SnowTrek snowshoes on sale, with the regular old sales malarkey (Limited quantities, 1,000,000$ in stock to be sold, direct from manufacturer, yada, yada). Anyways, I was just wondering if Snowtrek was a well known brand of snowshoes, or a piece of junk.

What are some good snowshoes to look out for?

[Nobody]

Welcome to the forum Andrew. We're a pretty small site, and I don't think we have any snowshoe experts yet.

I don't really have much experience, but I can recommend a few things. I have a pair of wood snowshoes that have an equally annoying rubber binding. I did a little research myself and found what's called a "Lampwick Binding". I haven't had the chance to try it out yet, but it seems like the way to go for traditional style snowshoes. There seems to be several variations that come up on searches

My antique snowshoes


I did a quick google search and found this:
Lampwick Binding - http://www.wildernessrhythms.com/1304


If you're looking for a more modern snowshoe, I really like the MSR EVO Ascent snowshoes. These are very popular snowshoes around here. You'll seem them used a lot by mountaineers and guide services. I will be buy these at some point.

A couple really nice things about the MSR Evo snowshoes

binding style
the bindings open up completely allowing for large boots. You just step on and quickly latch the rubber bindings. Easy to do with gloves on.

Unibody Traction
MSR EVO snowshoes have long steel tractions rails instead of a small crampon at the ball of your foot on most modern snowshoes. This gives you great traction in a wide variety of conditions.

Floatation Tails
If you need additional floatation, just slap on the floatation tails!

Televators
The "Ascent" models of MSR snowshoes come with the televators which lock into place and lift your heel. This provides extra traction and reduces fatigue on steep ascents.



If the EVO Ascents are too expensive, they also have less expensive "Trek" and "Explore" models that lack the Televators and have different binding styles. At some point I'd like to find the time to do a thorough write up on these snowshoes. Check out the MSR website.

http://cascadedesigns.com/msr/snowshoes/category

And regarding the Snowtrek snowshoes, I'm not familiar with them, but they seem to be pretty average snowshoes. I suspect they would work just fine for mostly flat ground snowshoeing.

Please come back and share a trip report! Good Luck!

[AndrewY]

Alright, thanks for the info! A few times when I was in cub scouts, I went Snowshoeing up at Tamaracouta, what a nice place it is. Some of those MSRs are real nice, maybe I'll get myself a pair. I think those EVO Tours might be in my price range, as long as all goes well. I well definitely post a trip report once I go on a trip.

Although, I should invest in more gear, like a camelbak, and a good sport camera case.

[jam session]

Another reasonable snow shoe to consider is http://www.bigfootsnowshoes.com/
We have 4 pair in the family now and like them a lot. We are casual weekend snow shoers but they all have many miles on them now. Bindings are easy to use and work well. For snow around here (deep) I suggest going up one size as they recommend.