Snowshoes and Snowshoeing Gear Guide for Adventure Travelers
Exploring beautiful wilderness destinations is among the biggest travel passions for adventure travellers. In most cases, this involves longer hikes or climbs. But when these travellers visit snowy, cold destinations, their favourite activity is usually snowshoeing.
Not like hiking, snowshoeing requires extra equipment. You need to ensure that you have a range of other equipment with you, in addition to the obvious need for snowshoes, to be comfortable and safe. And this is where this comprehensive snowshoe gear guide for adventure travellers becomes important.
The primary purpose of this comprehensive guide is to outline the equipment that experts would recommend. You’ll need it for your forthcoming snowshoeing adventures. Whether young or old, you can fasten a pair of your snowshoes and hit the trail. However, the entire experience can be uncomfortable and tiresome. And that is why you need the right equipment.
The wrong equipment can result in things like cold extremities, dangerous trail situations, and exhausted legs. About to start planning your next adventure? Go through the following recommendations and guidelines. You’ll be able to select the perfect gear. Let’s read on to unearth more.
The Right Pair of Snowshoes: How To Find One
You need a pair of snowshoes that meets all your requirements. Many things and considerations go into picking the right pair of snowshoes. The selection process goes beyond just finding a perfect fit for your feet. Apart from size, many other factors are involved that can really break or make your snowshoeing experience.
Do you want to have an excellent understanding of how snowshoes are designed? And what about the features to consider when making your next purchase? Let’s discover some general guidelines for you. Remember them every time you’re looking for your next pair of snowshoes.
Choose the Right Material
The material the pair of snowshoes is made of offers one of the most straightforward ways to differentiate between different types available to pick from. The type of material not only plays a significant role in offering a comfortable and safe snowshoeing adventure. It also determines how durable the pair of snowshoes is on the trail.
The material also decides how heavy the pair is as well, and can come in the form of:
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Aluminum: Aluminum framing is the most popular. It’s very durable and fairly lightweight. In most cases, they include a decking made of hard plastic, coated nylon, rubber, or urethane to offer floatation.
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Composite: Composite material is ideal for individuals who need ultra-lightweight snowshoes to use on the trail. A hardened composite material is the main component. Compared to aluminium, these snowshoes are lighter. However, they aren’t durable and are noisier on the trail.
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Foam: This is the most recent innovation. A pair of snowshoes made out of EVA foam is ultra-lightweight, quiet on the trail and pet-friendly. That means they are ideal for individuals who love to walk with pets. However, EVA foam snowshoes have less effective traction features. They mightn’t be the right option for you, especially when planning on snowshoeing in hilly mountainous terrain.
Factor in Your Weight and That of Your Gear
The right pair of snowshoes is determined by several factors. Among these factors, you’ll find your weight and that of your gear. The total weight dictates the length of the snowshoes pair to keep you afloat. In terms of snowshoe sizing, each snowshoe provider has unique suggestions as to what the size-to-weight ratio should be. Go through the manufacturer’s snowshoe sizing chart to find the right snowshoes.
Where Do You Plan to Snowshoe?
The type of terrain you’re planning to explore is another important factor. The terrain type massively dictates the type of features. You’ll need to look for these features in your next pair of snowshoes to find the right one. Let’s discover some of the aspects in which the type of terrain can determine the snowshoe features that are useful.
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Flat terrain: You’ll need snowshoes with fewer traction features. These features are important but will be less of a factor in terms of picking the perfect snowshoes.
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Hilly terrain: Planning to explore a hilly terrain? Traction features will be more of a factor. You’ll require more than the minimal traction amount so that you can easily traverse large declines and inclines safely without slipping. You’ll also need additional features like heel lifts.
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Mountain terrain: Proper traction is key here since snowshoeing in the mountains can be dangerous. Limit your selection to a subset of models designed for mountain use. These snowshoes have crampons on the bottom. Also, they have extra traction features like breaking bars and side rails.
Proper Binding
The type of binding is also a primary consideration. A snowshoe’s binding is what secures your pair of snowshoes to your winter boots. It plays a massive role in how you’ll be able to walk when wearing your snowshoes. Some binding types are practical and ideal for shorter exploits on groomed trails. That means they’re less efficient on longer trips in alpine terrain. Some common binding types include:
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Fixed bindings: These bindings attach the full length of the winter boots to your snowshoe deck. They only allow a small amount of flex when walking on the snow. Fixed bindings allow you to maintain your natural walking motion when in your pair of snowshoes. The inability of your foot to perfectly pivot in these bindings make it difficult to ascend mountainous terrain or large hills since your foot isn’t able to excellently pivot and push off on the toes.
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Pivoting or rotating bindings: Are you planning to do a huge amount of your snowshoeing activity in a hilly mountainous terrain? Invest in snowshoes and bindings that enable your foot to pivot more. And that is where floating or rotating bindings become useful. These bindings allow your foot to pivot when walking to make it easier on your legs when descending or ascending steep hills.
Other Snowshoe Gear Equipment You Need
You’ll also need to have the required gear with you to make your expedition a success in addition to the right snowshoes. You’ll need things like:
TSL Outdoor: A Destination for All Your Snowshoeing Equipment
TSL Outdoor is a French leader company. It concentrates in the design and manufacturing of high-quality outdoor equipment. Mainly, it designs and creates hiking poles and snowshoes. TSL Outdoor’s snowshoes adapt to different terrains and are perfect for different winter activities. The terrain type doesn’t matter. You’ll find snowshoes with additional features like optimal traction and flotation in snow.
Are you an adventure traveller looking for the best snowshoeing equipment? Especially snowshoes and hiking poles, for your next excursion? Follow the guidelines and recommendations discussed in this guide. Once you discover what fits you perfectly, consider leading snowshoeing equipment providers like TSL Outdoor.
