snowshoes

found what might be a good one.
GV snowshoes ... made in quebec. sold by ribtor in calgary.
rachet boot settings. $179 for 2nd best, 199 for top end. (no sales tax ... cackle...cackle)
what looks interesting is the "hill scoop" as i call them (ie the claws on the atlas shoes) are not exposed on the flat.so they won't be dragging in the snow until you need them uphill. (i don't LIFT my feet - just slide forward and the shoes raise and drop like skis). it also looks like they have a heavy duty heel pad.

they also make the wood snowshoes in huron (what i thought was cree- i'm from manitoba), ojibwi (note spelling) , bearspaw, yukon etc.
gonna check them out in my travels.
GV also make the magnesium framed CF shoes.

if they're made in canada they gotta be good .... eh?
5 year warranty on the top end shoes!
 
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We bought some snow shoes 2 years ago from Walmart of all places. They were only $99. They are made by yukon charlies. Link
http://yukoncharlies.com/index.cfm?page=1&CFID=3466274&CFTOKEN=87879095

These snow shoes are great,and are a better design IMO than the tubbs we were looking at that were $125 more. They have a good binding system which is very important as your feet want to work loose the bindings and slide out . The floatation was as good as the giant wooden old style shoes my buddy was wearing and probably 1/5 the weight.
 
I have a set of Atlas 1233's. they arn't cheap ($350ish) but I cannot kill them, and belive me I have tried. excellent floatation and much better in tight bush then any "traditional" one's I have tried.

I see everyone Loves the CF issues ones. to me they were worldclass peices of ####....
 
maybe for deep snow they issue navy snorkels to the army.
as to the teeth on the new styles hurting your feet- you should have seen my moon walking across a beaver pond last year.:eek: sure could have used some grip then.
i could hear the bunnies applauding!
evil little critters! :)
 
The captain said that when they were in the High Arctic, all they had to do was open their parkas when trasversing frozen ponds when on snowshoes.
The arctic breeze would blow them right across when they had tose lightweight things on with the grips!
I use several styles, short for in the thick stuff on the trapline, and I have a 5'
pair of Ojibwas for deeper snow.

I still use the same harness material that I was tuoght to use 45 years ago,
bulk lampwick!

Cat
 
great minds think alike. when i was in picking up my "winter trails" by GV ($173+GST) i picked up some lamp wick for my ojibways. ($3).
i'm sick of paying $$ for bindings that don't work .
lamp wick does.
BTW - 48" ojibways ...$160 ... 60" about $180 (none in stock)
they're not all that much heavier than the new tech stuff ... and they're prettier.
 
I was out looking at snowshoes this afternoon, and they ahve certainly changed alot the past few years.

I looked at the Atlas models, they were quite nice. I also looked at the MSR models, and they seemed much more durable than the Atlas ones. However, they were smaller, which leads me to believe they would have less flotation.

Anyone here have any experience with the MSR models?
 
the MSR ones are nice, but IN NO WAY are they more durable then a 10 or 12 series atlas. they also lack floatation for the deep fluffy stuff. they are better priced....
 
I carry many emotional scars from using the CF issued snowshoes while in the PPCLI (not the Hollywood Battalion, either.... ha ha ha :D ) I was in Calgary where all of our exercises after Halloween were winter exercises. I think I recall doing winter indoc with snowshoes by the Centurion Tank graveyard in Battle School around July 1978. :p

These days we snowshoe weekly around the Niagara Escrapement (sic) and I put my Yuba 9X32's through their paces. They are the USMC issue and they retailed for around $ 300. Bombproof bastards, ratchet bindings like my Burton/Option Snowboard bindings, they never freeze up or lock up with ice. Damn, why didn't they issue these when I had to carry the GPMG (and not the lighter C6 7.62mm today) while wearing my snowshoes ? Oh yeah, don't forget the 2 or 3 machine gun belts draped around the shoulders of my parka, too. :eek:

My wife loves here Atlas 825 women's snowshoes. With her crampon soles and mine, too, we can both scale snow and ice covered rocks while climbing up the cliff faces and leave all the Toronto weekend (warrior) snowshoers behind with their Tubbs ($ 80) rental snowshoes. :D ha ha ha... that way they'll return back to their Volvo SUV's and leave the trail to a wannabee like me. ha ha ha

Cheers and thanks for the memories down amnesia lane,
Barney
 
Amphibious... well, that certainly goes against what I thought!

The MSR ones seem to be more durable, but I suppose looks can be deceiving. I am leaning towards the Atlas 1230's, as they seem to be the best for what I plan on doing with them.

Either that or the MSR Lightning Acent or Denali Acent, which are around half the price, and seem more robust, although, they are smaller.
 
the 1230's are bombproof. I have owned a set of these since 2000 and cannot kill them. Doing SRT from tree to tree and rappeling in them and they only show a few dings in the paint. the new binding system is first rate!

good floater's too. a few years ago I parked my truck and showshoed up the Hill to UNBC for class everyday. they're a joy to use. I use them for winter bunny hunting & camping. Climbing with them is awsome, the crampon system really digs in.

I just checked the MSR website. I see they now carry a new series of snowshoes called the "lightning" I have not used these yet. the ones I was refering to in an earlier post were the "Denali" series.
 
I own a pair of Sherpa lightfoots leftover from my line-cutting days and they are a great shoe, the best in my opinion. They are alloy frames with solid decking and a great binding. They also have a set of meaty aluminium cleats which allow you to walk up some pretty steep inclines without slipping.
They are probably more than what the average joe needs unless you cover alot of miles in a winter. I absolutely abused mine, probably walked over 500 clicks that winter, bashed the crap out of them with my axe(not on purpose) and at the end of the season packaged them up and sent them to Sherpa for little reconditioning and they sent them back free of charge.
the only catch is you pay alot for them, a quick search found a set for $335CAD, more than I would pay for a pair except I was making a living on them. If you come across a used set for the right price you wouldn't be disappointed with them.

mc
 
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