snowshoes

I've noticed the odd coment about purchasing snowshoes, so I figured I'ld share some basic info.

I know of two places in town that sell snowshoes. Coast Mountain in Park Wood and the old Northern hardware (HH) on third (downtown could be mistaken about Ave, but in gen. area.)

Coast mountain sells the more modern stile. These may be a little more expensive but I'm not sure. from what I've seen the modern ones come in one basic size SMALL! these are great for trails or hard snow and are easy for people new to snowshoeing to use. Its also easier to use small snowshoes in dense brush, but they won't keep you up as well as larger ones.

The northern hardware has the old fashiond stile. The old stile snoeshoes come in a few differnt shapes and sizes. I don't know the proper names for them but there's three differnt basic stiles.
#1 the bear paw eather a square or circle shape is always a small snowshoe. Has no tail on it. very good for thick wooded areas. not so good in wide open areas.
#2 (sky shoes) I have no clue what the proper name for these ones is. They're vary long and narow. they are two sticks runnig length wise conected at eather end (Kind of pointy). They have the largest surfice area. but are the last thing you want if your going into a wooded area, you can't make sharp turns in them easily. They are meant for wide open areas where you go straight from point a to b. These are suposed to be about four feet long for the average man, and are acualy desined to help keep you going in a straight line.
#3 (rabit shoes) again I don't no the proper name for these, they are probably the most reconised desine. They are round on the front and come to a tail in the back. These probably have the largest diferince in size and preportions. These are a vary good all round snoeshoe. I use a set of these and I've been through every kind of terrain we have in this area. I've used them in areas where there isn't even a game trail going through the trees up and down steep hills and even down (or over) a few cliffs.

Out of these three snowshoes the bare paws would probably be the best for air soft seeing as they are the easysit to run in, and are easy to use for people who are new to snow shoeing. and are difenitly the quickist to turn in. The down side is that they have the smallest surfice area out of the three snow shoes ,how ever bigger then most modern snowshoes.

The thing to remimber about snowshoes is the big the surfice area the less you sink in the snow. the bigger they are the bulkier and heavier they are going to be in other words slower to move in. the longer they are the harder (slower) they are to turn in. the smaller you go the faster you go, the sorter the length the faster you turn, however if you go to small you will sink just about as deep as someone without and you will make a butiful wide trail for him to folow.

When you go to buy a set remember that you should be abil to LIFT YOUR HEAL off of the shoe when you walk. this means when you raise your foot flat the showshoe draggs along the ground at the back. There should be some sort of BRACE going from one side of the snowshoe to the other just under the ball of your foot. there should be an opening in front of this brace so that your toes can go through the snowshoe as you walk, alowing it to left the front and drag the back along the snow. if it doesn't have this opening your lifting the entire snowshoe whenever you rase your foot, thats a lot of work you don't want. This doesn't apply to some bear paws, as they are smaller and are suposed to stick to your foot alowing you to run in them more easily.

I myself like the bear paws.

moved to manuals...thanks for this Bill
Bear Paw


Ski Shoes


Rabbit Shoes


let me know if these are the wrong pics. Are all snowshoes now made with aluminum frames and synthetic skins or is there still a good mix of the wooven type as well?

Check prices on newer bear paw types that hold up to 200lbs at canadian tire and they run around $170.

Thanks for the info...to clear the air about the more modern type snowshoes...I use them to go backcountry with my snowboard all the time...and I've used both the modern type (oval in shape, often made from a little aluminum alloy, and a vinyl webbing) and an older style, like a bear or rabbit paw. Both hold my frame (which is larger than most) plus the weight of my gear.
Modern type-
Positives-more maneuverable, lighter, less tiring as you're not lifting a huge heavy frame out of the snow.
Negatives-Longer to learn how to use properly...first little bit, you will sink a lot until you learn how to use them.
Older type (larger frame)-
Positives-you can be a rookie and these will still keep you afloat.
Negatives-loss of range of motion, and much slower.

Those are just from personal experiences and use. For less money your best bet is to go and get a cheap pair of plastic bear paws, I think the northern still sells them. But if you want to invest in a pair, I would go with the more modern style. Do your research though, major companies being Atlas and Crescent Moon, which I would recommend. Anyhow those are my two cents

Ah horton thats not what I ment by the sky shoes, the ones I'm talking about I haven't seen in modern stile, and That pick didn't look 4 feet long.