Changed my avatar to show the pretty tracks left by a pair of snowshoes I've been using lately. OH had these centuries ago to access the trap line in winter. They are Algonquin, with a longer, narrower shape supposed to be good for shoeing through brush. They are mine now and I love the track they make, so pretty. Not sure if you can see it well here.
I had to zoom in to see properly. They are pretty ,like those solid one piece fans you sometimes see ...you must have looked after them well if they've had a few years service x
That just reminded me of giving away the snow shovel when we moved south! They do leave very cool tracks!
Thanks. They were pretty beat up. OH has repaired them and we put new bindings on and a new coat of shellac. I have four pairs of snowshoes. These leave pretty tracks because the old ones do not have crampons on the bottom. They are harder to go up and down hills on. My beavertails are the same, pretty tracks but harder on hills. But the beavertails and the Algonquins hold me up much higher on the snow. They are meant for deep snow and my more modern, aluminum ones (both picked up by OH at thrift stores) are meant for trail conditions.
I had a pair like that kicking around for years - finally a friend borrowed them to hang on her stone fireplace. I found them awkward to use - they were so wide my legs had to be far apart when walking.
@Lisa maybe they were the wrong size for you? Or you were using them in the wrong conditions? You can see my tracks are not widened. These shoes are meant for deep snow. The weighted shoe sinks down into the snow and the moving shoe lifts over top of it. A bit wider but not a lot, not like a bear paw would. Making that track was hard as it was on a logging road that was packed down the day before. On that hard road my weighted shoe did not sink so in order to lift the opposite over it I had to lift my leg and foot unnaturally high. I couldn't walk in these for long on a hard trail.
I found some like that. They were just too wide for me. The ones I have now allow me to walk naturally.
That is interesting. I know nothing about that sort of thing. Can they be used on really deep snow or do you still tend to sink in?
It very much depends on the type of snow and the design of the shoes. Mine are designed to be very flexible, which means they adapt better to the shape of the land, making them more stable. Because I walk a lot on uneven, narrow footpaths on hills, this is very important to me. The downside is that they do sink more in the snow than a regular, more rigid, shoe. If the snow is dense, this isn't a problem, because you stay on top anyway. If it's very light, it doesn't matter, because you just push through it without feeling. But if it's somewhere in between, it means it's a bit harder work to lift your feet out of the snow each footstep.
Yes, ditto @snowbunny My Algonquins still sink a bit in deep snow but not nearly as much as my two aluminum pairs, which are more narrow and shorter. Actually, if Oban is with me my aluminum ones pack a trail down better for him as they sink much more. Moot point, he'd rather be out front breaking trail, sore leg and all. Not to say all aluminum shoes are like that, mostly they come with a rating as to whether they are meant for trail, deep snow or off trail, like cross country skiis, sort of. And as Snowbunny says, snow density is a factor. Someone who walks where I do uses very small snowshoes. I don't know who it is, I just find the tracks. I think they would be good for some places where they might help to smooth out rough tracks left by footprints from dogs, boots, uneven snowmo tracks, etc. by providing a wider, smoother, more stable base for the walker, more so than their own plain winter boots. I get bursitis in winter in my right hip, I think from putting my booted only foot down on a snowy trail and my foot tips or slips or slides or sinks and the action goes right up to my hip. When aluminum snowshoes first came out many years ago OH went out with a friend. Friends shoes had a pretty solid piece of neoprene or something in place of where our old ones have rawhide webbing. Friend's shoes kept filling up with snow on top while the snow filtered through the webbing on OH's. Friend had to keep tipping his shoes sideways to dump the snow off and he got tired very quickly, and sore later from the unnatural movement he had to do repetitively. I find that happens a bit with my aluminum ones too, in deeper snow. But not my old webbed algonquin and beavertails, as long as the snow is not too wet and packy. I do make sure to let my shoes cool down outside before using them, same as you'd do with skiis.
We have a pair like that hanging up in our cabin. They came from Alaska, and I think they are bit longer. There is a huge turn up at the front, even more than skis have. They look great, but weigh a lot more than my MSR Lightning Assents, and they don't have crampons for steep snow and ice. Last week I tried out a pair of Hoks. They are a short wide ski with built in skins. Similar to the original skis that the Chinese developed, even before the Norwegians. they are kind of a cross between a snowshoe and a ski, and they will glide a bit.
