In my last post I talked about “traditional snowshoes”. These are the wood and rawhide devices that look so “old school cool” that people hang them on walls at rustic bars. If you’re traversing Greenland or packing out a caribou, you probably want traditional snowshoes. Also, if you’re traversing Greenland or packing out a caribou you shouldn’t be taking advice from some rando on the internet!
On to modern snowshoes. Traditional snowshoes aren’t rare but you can’t pick them up at a box store. Conversely, you can buy modern snowshoes just about anywhere, even Amazon. That’s a hint that they’re a different critter.
If you’re a svelte person, more likely to wear spandex than wool and are more likely to be “recreating” than “working”, modern snowshoes make a lot more sense. Slogging around with wood and rawhide is cool but it’s unnecessary for your needs. There’s nothing wrong with new technology and they’ll probably save you money.
Modern snowshoes are a lot tamer and yet in some ways look cooler. You can find 10,000 variants but they have similarities in appearance (if not specific design and materials). Some modern snowshoes are serious equipment and some are more like toys. They all look like something from the Jetsons compared to traditional snowshoes.
Modern snowshoes have a much smaller hoop, usually made of aluminum tubing or something similar. This is spanned by a piece of neoprene or similar artificial flexible fabric-ish stuff that covers most or all of the whole area. This is a big difference from the wider spread lacing of a traditional snowshoe.
Modern snowshoes are (usually?) lighter, cheaper to buy (unproven?), and still last a long time (though not as long as their unkillable ancestor). Being lighter and cheaper they’re the vast majority of snowshoes sold. Remember how I said all things are a compromise? The big traditional snowshoes may wear you out but the smaller snowshoes will sink deeper if the snow is deep and fluffy. Life is like that.
Here’s a photo of modern snowshoes from Amazon (I haven’t tested these myself). Just look at them! Compared to me clomping away like Jeremiah Johnson, someone on modern snowshoes looks like they’ve got jet powered footwear. They’re orange fer Chrissake! Kids and recreationalists who sneer at bent ash frames readily get on board with modern snowshoes. The ones in this photo even come with a carrying case and poles. I completely understand why people like modern snowshoes.
However, it’s all about floatation and compromise. Ready for me to say a statement that will piss people off? Here goes…
I theorize that the vast majority of miles hiked are done on traditional snowshoes. Yet the majority of sales are modern snowshoes.
Now I’m going to duck for cover as people hurl rocks at me.
Don’t worry though. There’s a time and a place for a simple easy to carry “backup snowshoe” or “recreation snowshoe”. If you’re running a trapline and cover most of the ground by snowmobile, it would make sense to have little snowshoes strapped on your sled and only use them for the last few hundred yards between the sled trail and the trap. Same for maple syrup operations on the wet slushy end of winter. Their small size makes them perfect as a backup in case your tracked ATV has an electrical gremlin and won’t start.
They’re also perfect where you need some flotation but aren’t trekking a million miles in deep drifts. A windswept lake with packed snow interspersed with open areas or a heavily treed area that doesn’t get a lot of drifting is where a small modern shoe is perfect. Same for where a trail is already broken for you. If eleventy zillion snowmobiles have packed the trail, modern snowshoes are an excellent option.
I’d probably go for them if I were climbing something steep and icy too. (Modern snowshoes can have more jagged gripping surfaces than the wooden framed traditional style.)
Also, they’re great when you’re light. Not everyone is dragging 50 pounds of beaver pelts across the Canadian Rockies. If you’re a light person on a short jaunt like birdwatching or whatnot, why go overboard?
So that’s my two cents and it’s worth what ya’ paid for it. If you’ve got modern snowshoes that are plastic and came from Walmart yet you used them to cross a glacier during a two week Dall Sheep hunt… I bow to your different experiences.
Also, lets back up and mention safety. Deep snow can kill your ass dead.
You should never be more than a mile from your truck wallowing around in deep snow without a plan; either modern or traditional snowshoes are better than playing Donner Party six miles out. Most people have no idea what wading through 5′ drifts can do to you. It’s horrible! Snowshoes aren’t obsolete! Unless you’re nine feet tall to stride through deep snow or have mastered the ability to hover, have a plan! Also, your snowmobile isn’t invulnerable.
I’m linking to a few YouTube videos comparing modern and traditional snowshoes: here and here.
More in my next post.
My only experiences with snow shoes are the third type – army. Shaped like elongated tennis rackets, magnesium frame, wire mesh and nylon strap bindings. Put a lot of miles on those and army “cross-country skis” with wire bindings (later with rod bindings that were better). -TimD
I don’t know why anyone would purposely use these things. Living in Vermont in the 70’s we had to do the last 1/3rd mile uphill to our home in snow shoes and cross country ski back. All I remember are stretched muscles and lots of Ben Gay rub.
i used traditional snowshoes to get out to feed cows. worked great, floated on top of 2 ft + deep snow. untill the dog decided to ride on back of my snowshoe. can you say.. faceplant?
ron
I’m (former UK military “Not by Strength”) and I ‘think’ I’m mostly in your camp.
It’s terrain dependant, but skis were/are more used operationally (and recreationally) here (Northern Flank). I still use my old magnesium snowshoes though (which I “acquired” in Canada, Eh!) in more forested areas, but I’ve mostly transitioned to “ski-shoes” now (OAC KAR 149’s and XCD 160’s) both with Finngrip Nordigrip bindings (75mm similar to Voile’s) because … they’re indestructible, and ‘I’ can fix them in the highly unlikely event they break. And … that’s the real difference for me. (the one ‘weakness’ of those magnesium snowshoes is the binding, but unlike modern ones they are easily repaired or replaced, even in the boreal 200 miles from a hardware store).
Modern kit is wonderful, it’s lighter, stronger (and allows you to both leap tall buildings and ‘pose and pull’ apre ski – I was going to say ‘look good’, but me, not even if you squint, it’s dark, you’re myopic, and you stretch the definition) but … if it breaks you’re SoL. Not an issue on the resort piste or the groomed trails in the local park, but try that in a real wilderness and they’ll be (possibly) finding what’s left of you next spring.
Look at the locals, and the few ‘real’ old-hands in such areas and … they all wear and use “old-fashioned”, traditional, proven clothes and gear when going out to the wilds. All. Of. Them. (Oh OK, I do wear goretex [with my body spandex is a no no – my poor, fragile male ego can’t take all the screaming and … what’s worse, giggling], and even TSL snowshoes around town – figuring out how to put cable bindings on my ski-march boots after a ‘few’ beverages is apparently beyond me). The thing is, there’s traditional, and then there’s the updated traditional (with the best of both worlds).
I wear merino, loden, wool, and a cotton shell (when it’s -30+), but it’s modern merino, loden (with primaloft lining) and Ventile cotton (not to mention my old Lundhags felt lined boots). I approach my gear the same way, traditional, proven tech, that I can repair if necessary, but made with as many modern advances as I can get away with (the KAR’s, XCD’s and similar Altai HOK’s are a modern take on an idea that is, arguably, older than either skis ‘or’ snowshoes after all).
Modern society is now apparently (the feminised view) more about “form over function”. I like modern conveniences, but I’d rather have something that works, even if everybody thinks I’m a Neanderthal or a Luddite and …. it’s always so Schadenfreudelicious when you have to (repeatedly) rescue the goretex/spandex brigade when they get into trouble, whilst wearing your unfashionable ‘old’ gear.
I have found that the modern style snowshoes that I have used for the last 25 years in Colorado, are perfectly capable and the solid deck does not sink deeply into fresh powder to an appreciable extent compared to traditional. The smaller width makes maneuvering much simpler, as does the incorporation of several cleats across the bottom of the instep and the rear heel area. The store and travel well, require minor maintenance and have no issues from storage. My traditional shoes are nothing more than a wall decoration in the garage.
Now I’m starting to think I need one of each type.