Posted: 4/21/2011 7:59:14 PM EDT
| Alaskans: Talk to me about snowshoes. Sportsmans Guide is offering a pair of new US GI snowshoes for $40. How do these compare to modern commercial ones from companies like MSR or Black Diamond? |
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Quoted:
Alaskans: Talk to me about snowshoes. Sportsmans Guide is offering a pair of new US GI snowshoes for $40. How do these compare to modern commercial ones from companies like MSR or Black Diamond? I'm not sure what the "Newest Issue" mil snowshoes are but I use the MSR's with the extension tails. They are very light, have a fantastic binding sytem and metal cleats on the bottom to prevent slipping on ice. They work very well and lay very flat if you want to strap them to your pack, which I do frequently. I'm in Valdez where we get a bit of snow. The old 4' long wooden trail shoes are really hard to beat when there is really deep light snow. Depends on how much you want to spend really. The MSR's are very expensive. You might want to pick up the mil shoes and try them, then if they don't do what you want out of them you could move up to the newer styles. Until that day, Darkop |
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We got issued the MSR's that Darkop has a few years back... They are absolutely fantastic in Spring or firmer deep snow. I used the shit out of mine on Spring bear hunts in the Sound. As stated above, the rubber binding system on the MSRs will lock your foot in and you won't have to worry about slippage.
As for the issued, old school magnesium, snowshoes the bindings on these is where they fail... otherwise, they're a good snowshoe and will get you around in the lightest powder around. I looked a few years back to see if I could find somebody that made an "aftermarket" binding for GI snowshoes but had no luck. I think if you could get a modern binding on a GI shoe, you'd have a great snowshoe for relatively cheap. If you can deal with constantly reaching down and tightening your straps on the GI snowshoe, get 'em. Otherwise you're going to spend a good chunk of change on a quality snowshoe. The PJ's also use Tubbs snowshoes... I've also used a set of these and they are QUALITY! They're also over 200 bones a pop. |
| +1 on MSR. I'm still on my original set from probably 15 years ago. I'm a big guy and they have a lot of use. They look like hell but are structurally solid and have many more years. I have the type that have the detachable tails and use the large size. We get over 300 inches of snow each year and so I get to use them on a regular basis. |