UKH

Hello all,

My folks, the two of them straddling the respectable age of 70 (its the new 60) have been skiing since the start of the 1980s and they still get two or three weeks in the Alps each winter. Time marches on, however, and instead of squeezing the eight days a week in that they used to, nowadays they often end up spending only three or four days using the lifts, weather depending. I'd like to initiate the inevitable shift into snowshoeing at some point, so that they have something to do on bad weather days, or just as an alternative to skiing.

Now, I speak fluent ski tour, but snowshoes are almost completely alien to me. Obviously I'm not looking for anything high-mountain and technical, they are more going to be used for plodding around forests and meadows. What are the options? Are there any to avoid?

Does anyone want to flog a second-hand pair?

Cheers all!

In reply to Pete Houghton:

My experience with snowshoes is that the snow (and quite possibly 'trail') conditions are probably more important than then shoes. Lots of people now it seems snowshoe on designated trails (often marked) following other people's tracks. Sometimes you wonder if they actually need snowshoes at all in those cases, but at least they don't need anything fancy at all. Those plastic smallish French ones (TSL is the brand I think) would do the job. If you are "plodding around forests and meadows" where no one else has been, much bigger snowshoes may well be necessary and even still it can be desperately hard work.

Probably best to find out what people use in the places where your folk are likely to be going snowshoeing, as what might be good in a Finnish forest (where I have mainly used my snowshoes) and on a 'piste' in an Austrian ski resort and a Canadian prairie could all be rather different.

For what its worth my MSR Lightenings have been incredibly hard wearing - rocks and lots of climbing over fallen trees hasn't caused them any issues in a decade of regular use through winter.

In reply to Pete Houghton:

I think the mountain/technical snow shoes in the MSR line are the better shoes, so wouldn't dismiss the more technical shoes even though you're just wandering through forests.

From MSR trail to ascent series:
http://www.cascadedesigns.com/msr/snowshoes/trail-snowshoes/lightning-trail...
http://www.cascadedesigns.com/msr/snowshoes/explore-snowshoes/lightning-exp...
http://www.cascadedesigns.com/msr/snowshoes/ascent-snowshoes/lightning-asce...

The obvious difference seems to mostly be the more secure bindings and heel elevator as you go down the list.

I thought heel elevators were a gimmick, but they're pretty sweet for walking up hills. The secure bindings are good, too, even when walking on the flat every now and again you'll fall into a hole. It's nice when your snow shoes stay on.

But then, lightning ascents sure aren't cheap. I started snow shoeing with some bearpaw style borrowed off a canadian friend. PVC tubing with a lattice of straps for the deck. Cheap, simple, sod all grip though. During those trips was when I decided grip was a very important thing.

In reply to Pete Houghton:
Why not rent them? If its only for a few days a year it would be a darn sight more economical... Most rental shops do them in the Dolomites. Our local one, De Grandi sport certainly does...

In reply to Casa Alfredino:

Easy to rent in most (all?) French ski resorts but I suspect a week's hire would buy a pair (cheapest model from Decathlon is about 5O Euro) although hiring means you don't have to travel with them - do they fly or drive to the Alps ?

In reply to Doug: that is true, although 50 euros will get you a fairly poor quality set... Worth thinking about if you can find a shop which stocks good quality rentals! The plastic sheet varieties often have such a dare I say wibbley binding and crampon setup that it makes the, feel pretty insecure on steeper ground...