Snowshoes

The Canadian military beaver tail and "newer" bear paw magnesium snowshoes are great if you need a shoe to jump out of a plane with, or break trail a short distance through relatively shallow snow; however, a heavily overlooked ability the designers made was the shoes ability to provide loft in deep, fresh snow; these two simply dont provide enough loft in fresh snow - not remotly; is this due to the insufficent surface area or the wire weave material used on their decks? Likely both.

magnesium snowshoe


The Canadian military bear paw shoe has aggressive spiking for traction and significanty more surface area to provide loft, as compared to the older beaver tail model, which only seems to expand my foot base only slightly, however the bear paw shoe will still sink my foot on a 160lb of pressure. Not only does a sunk foot have to be lifted that much more from the snow, but the shoe will "scoop" and hold snow on the way out. The Canadian Military BP, as shown above does have the advantage of being extrmely strong and likely to last through many hits and years of work; however, they cant be easily repaired to new conditions in a isolated cabin, as a babbiche laced natural shoe would in the right hands (but then, just improvise) . Additionally, the magnesium shoe does make an audible clatter when knocked against one-another; a point to take note of if making noise is a factor afield.

 The shoes do keep the snow away from your shoe but modern companies must look at the old old designs or simply increase the surface areas of their shoe decks if the shoes they manufacture are to provide a reliable amount of loft in fresh deep snow.

If the snow is old and has solid pack from thaw/freeze days they will have better loft support than just your boot foot. 

An article to consider while searching for your next pair.

I read about a man in Russia making snow skies from a tree as a last minute solution. I have tried to use just a log tied to my foot and these are also terrible; they break, tangle, but do provide loft. Also your foot will tend to want to role over the side. This is a solution that will require further experimentation. 

Im going to look into DIY Roycraft Snowshoes.


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