"Snowshoeing" Book Author Offers Tips and Recommendations

Author of the book "Snowshoeing", Steve Griffin, of Michigan recently offered information about the winter activity. "The pastime's main appeal is its ease. If you can walk, you can snowshoe," he stated. "I've had six knee surgeries. I can't downhill ski, and I can only nordic ski a little bit. But I can snowshoe."

"Snowshoeing is more visible here than it ever was," Mr. Griffin added. "Twenty or 30 years ago, you only saw snow shoe tracks leading into and out of the woods. Now you see them on all kinds of trails, in city parks and on golf courses. Walking and jogging on snow shoes has become a fitness and recreation activity, not just a way to get from Point A to Point B."

He said that traditional wooden snowshoes are still are available, but most prefer the new smaller, lighter models with frames constructed of aluminum and webbed with synthetic fabrics. "The platforms of modern snow shoes are made of solid fabric, which gives you more support with less surface area," he said. "If I used old-style wooden and rawhide-laced shoes, they'd need to be 60 inches long to support my weight. I can get away with 36-inch shoes if they have the new fabric webbing."

Mr. Griffin also added that most people "like to look at traditional snowshoes, but they prefer to walk on modern snowshoes. Especially since modern snowshoe bindings are so much better. My first snow shoes were a cheap pair with horrible leather lace-up bindings that looked like some kind of bondage equipment," Mr. Griffin recalled. "I needed to stop every 20 minutes to take up the slack in the laces. Nowadays, you have bindings with one or two-buckles. You step into them, and snap you're off and snowshoeing."

He also reminds anyone thinking of taking up the activity that modern snowshoes are not that expensive. Most models from major manufacturers such as Atlas, Tubbs and MSR Snowshoes run in the $100 to $200 range. "It's difficult to buy a bad snow shoe now," Griffin stated. "The quality is much more uniform. I wouldn't hesitate to buy entry-level shoes to get started. Today's beginner models are better than most high-end shoes used to be. I don't know of anyone who's ever worn out a snowshoe, and no one is likely to," Griffin continued.

Snowshoe sizes also depend on the weight they're intended to support. Griffin recommended that a good rule is to buy a shoe that will allow the wearer to sink slightly into the snow rather than walking on top of it. "If you are using snowshoes that keep you from sinking into the snow, they are too big," he added. "You should sink in just a little bit. The idea is to control how far you sink."

He also has some recommendations when snowshoeing. They include using one or two snowshoe poles for balance and stability when hiking uphill, wearing sunglasses to protect eyes from glare off the snow and wearing nonabsorbing synthetic clothing to stay warm during a typical snowshoe outing that includes really heating up on uphills and cooling down on downhills. "Cotton kills," he stated. "I cringe every time I see someone wearing jeans. Clothing that gets soaked with sweat can rob you of body heat as soon as you stop or slow down. If it's cold enough, you can get a nasty case of hypothermia."