So you’re thinking about buying some snowshoes and you don’t know what to look for……..let’s talk!
Jake Thamm, President and Co-founder of Crescent Moon Snowshoes talks about what to consider when buying a pair of shoes. He goes on saying, “Crescent Moon’s main focus is the binding – we believe this is the most important part of any snowshoe, regardless of all other considerations, but we’ve already made the case, so we won’t go there for this discussion.”
With the abundance of options available, choosing the right skiing equipment can be overwhelming. Sorting through the myriad of skis, boots, bindings, and poles is a challenge for beginners and experienced skiers alike. Steve Hindman, author of Cross-Country Skiing: Building Skills for Fun and Fitness, offers some tips for finding the equipment that matches your interests and skill level.
Even when the landscape is covered in snow, there are a few easy principles you can follow to minimize your impact on the environment.
Snow Camping
Even though the nights are cold and long, try to resist the urge to have a campfire. During winter, when all downed wood is buried under the snow and the only available fuel is tree branches, fires are a bad idea. As a “warm glow” alternative, bring plenty of fuel for your stove and try candle lanterns.
Upon leaving camp, dismantle your snow shelter and fluff up the white stuff so that visitors coming after you can enjoy a natural setting.
Traditional wood-frame (Yukon, Ojibwa, Beavertail, Bearpaw)? The smaller, modern metal Western frame with high toe-turnup? Or a lower-priced, colorful plastic frame? There are many snowshoe models on the market and the choices can seem overwhelming. Dave Felkley, editor of Snowshoeing: From Novice to Master, 5th Edition has some suggestions to help beginners.
The final part to this series will cover techniques. Snowshoeing as I said in the first article is really not all that hard to do. If you can walk you can start snowshoeing and feel comfortable doing it with just a few times out. I thought in this segment of the series, instead of just describing how to do certain techniques, here are some videos from youTube that REI produced about three techniques: Going downhill, going uphill, and Traversing. Also the last video is about winter safety tips. As i have previously stated, please learn about avalanche safety and awareness. Avalanche danger is real. Check you local avalanche center for current conditions in your area before heading into the backcountry. Avalanche.org has links to some of the countries local avalanche centers, as well as have an avalanche safety online tutorial. Hope this series will encourage you to get out and enjoy what the winter weather can offer.
In part 1 we went over what basic types of snowshoes there are and how to choose the right one for you. Also we covered the need for good footwear to keep your feet warm. Now we are going to go over the importance of clothing.
As with any type of outdoor excursion, layering is of utmost importance.The purpose to layering is to keep your body warm and dry. The fundamentals to layering is to wick perspiration away from the body, insulate the body from the cold and to keep the body dry from rain or snow penetrating the outer layer.
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