Minnesota Women's Press Highlights Snowshoeing

The Minnesota Women's Press recently highlighted snowshoeing as one of the hottest growing trends in the outdoor market. Bob Aldrich, sales and training coordinator at Midwest Mountaineering, explained that “Snowshoeing just exploded about five years ago. All of a sudden it was the hot new thing. Maybe people just got tired of looking at those skis sitting in their garage and thought, ‘There’s gotta be another way to do this without that huss and fuss.’”

The article conveyed how current snowshoes have aluminum frames and solid plastic decks, instead of the wooden frames and rawhide webbing of traditional snowshoes. The new models are supposed to give “better floatation” because the snow doesn’t come through the webbing, but Aldrich says that wooden shoes are arguably better in very deep snow. The top manufacturers listed include Crescent Moon, Atlas, MSR, RedFeather and Tubbs. Most also produce snowshoes specifically engineered for women, although Aldrich said the issue is really weight and not gender. “The only difference in women’s shoes is that they are a little narrower at their widest point,” he explained. “A lot of women can wear the so-called men’s.”