Thinking of buying MSR snowshoes? Think again.

7 people began a hike with new MSR snowshoes. The orange pair were brand new and failed within 30 mins. and were worn by a 160 lb. guy on a flat trail. The other ones were worn by a heavier hiker and failed on Redfield. They were brand new. A third pair (brand new) worn by myself (185# plus pack) have white creases at the same failure point. Threads on the forums have indicated that the MSR's were the way to go. Perhaps ''were'' is the correct tense.

Does anybody else have new MSR's and what are your experiences thus far?

"Heavier" is the polite term...those were my snowshoes on the right. Returned them with no problems at EMS and got new Atlas snowshoes. I don't trust that plastic decking anymore.

I just got the new MSR Lightning Ascents, supposedly these are the killer new rigs to have, but of course living in CT (no, I'm not really AL) with no snow doesn't help.

http://www.msrcorp.com/snow/lightning_ascent.asp

I have the grey ones, purchased last year (2003) and they have functioned flawlessly. Just used them on the Carters / Wildcats with a full overnight pack (total weight well over 200 lbs) and no problems. It does look like a design problem though!

For what it's worth. A group of us climb up the North Slide of the Tripyramid in Dec. Within our group on person was using a MSR showshoe (don't know which model), he was climbing up a 55 degree slope like
he had crampons on. As for the other, we had to take off our showshoes and boot it up halfway then the rest with crampons.

I'm one of those (notorious) MSR advocates. My Denali Ascents (the grey one in your photo) show scarring on the bottom from pretty heavy use (200# plus pack) but no hint of creasing.

On the bottom surface of the MSRs is a date stamp, in two parts. One part indicates the year, e.g., "99 00 01 -->02" on mine. The other part shows the month, by "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 X ->Y Z" (not a typo.) It would be interesting to know the dates on all of the snowshoes in question. It would also be interesting to hear what MSR has to say about the situation. Can you press the retailer to get an answer from them?

The gray ones on the right were mine. I already returned them, so I cannot get the stamped info off of the bottom. However, the guy at EMS stated that there has been no other reports of failures with those shoes. There was a recall that was posted in another thread, and these shoes may have been from that run. It's just a bit odd that two pairs broke outright, and one pair creased all on the same trip, and all were brand new on the first use ever. Also, one pair was purchased in Ottawa, one in Montreal, one in Syracuse. So if the shoes were part of the recall, I would say the problem is a wide one.

sardog1 said:

It would also be interesting to hear what MSR has to say about the situation. Can you press the retailer to get an answer from them?

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I'll be e-mailing MSR the photos and links to this and a similar thread at ADKforum tommorow.
I too was impressed with the way the Denali Ascents' crampons handled the steeper terrain and their light weight and light price but now am queasy about failure.

I can only smile-MSR already has a bad rep on VFTT

MSR snowshoes are really JUNK. I sell them at Gander Mountain, not by my choice however. I always push people to Atlas or Tubbs. Both of these companies have lifetime warrenties on their shoes. Why would anyone go with MSR? First of all their noisy as hell, you can't even hear yourself think over the loud crunching sounds. Their most popular shoe is all plastic. Think about it, all plastic in below 0 temps, come on. Last year alone I've heard more complaints about their snowshoes on this site alone to deter me from even giving them a second look. OK I've rambled on enough. It just ticks me off that their shoes are constantly failing to do the job and leaving good hikers in bad situations. Think Atlas 10 series, it's the only way to go.

peak_bgr said:

Last year alone I've heard more complaints about their snowshoes on this site alone to deter me from even giving them a second look. Think Atlas 10 series, it's the only way to go.

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All I heard this year on VFTT when people posted asking about snowshoes was that MSR Ascents were the way to go.

I bought the Evo Ascents and didn't have any problems on that hike with Neil & Company, however, I'll be a little nervous with them for a while.

I rented Atlas shoes last year and liked them, but I liked the MSR's for their small size for getting around tight blow down. I'm about 230lbs so 36 inchers are pretty long.


-Shayne

Msr

My Plastic MSR shoes are great. I use them instead on crampons most of the time and have abused them on rocks ect. with no problems. The bindings are getting worn but I was able to order new ones from MSR without any problem. They do make a lot of noise. The bindings are easy to use with mittens. All my MSR experences have been positive.

Sounds like a bad batch problem. My (older) MSR's have taken everything I've thrown at them and I've never had any kind of problem with them. As always, YMMV...

But what of the Lightnings Ascents?

Since I just bought a pair of the MSR Lightning Ascents, I'm glad there is no active dissing on this model (though I realize there was a negative comment elsewhere, which was rather non-specific [and of offense is intended]). What attracted me to these shoes was the great design for traction. Except for the skinny tail, the entire frame is designed to grab. The frame is aluminum, except for the steel cross bars, and these are riveted on. Not being one for the snowshoe glissade, since it usually comes at an inconvenient moment for me, traction is what I want. Based on limited use so far, compared to my Atlas 1030s, the Lightnings are way out front (I admit I have still not climbed 200 mountains in either pair).

I do wish they had a slightly longer model. Once I throw my gear on, I'm right at the redline for the weight rating, and winter camping on these will be just beyond the limit. This confession, of course, preceeds the January diet.

Also, on the plastic MSRs, there is a recall for a batch manufactured in late 2001, some of which may still be on the shelves. More info on that. The failures Neil & gang experienced sound similar to the recall problem.

Happy trails!

Msr Shoe Pundits

Whats the deal, two guys have a problemes w/ there shoes and loft and msr shoes sucks grenade and you folks are all over it like cubbard of clanging pots. Ive heard bad things about both tubbs and atlas, and a plethora of raves about MSR shoes... What gives In manufacturing there are variences and it sounds like some bad shoes got through Q.C. It Happens to Tubbs, Atlas, and MSR too. Doesn't mean either of these shoe brands are crap.

I have both Sherpas and MSR EVO Ascents. I love both, but the MSR's have become my significant other. I weigh 280 when geared up for a day hike (yikes!). I've climbed 11 4K/High Peaks with my MSR's with no noticeable wear/stress on the MSR's. I love the traction. In speaking to the MSR folks, they indicated that the EVO line uses a newer, strong plastic than the older models (I don't know if they also switched to this polymer on the older models in newer runs). YMMV, and with all respect to peak_bgr (whose opinions I would take to the bank!), my MSRs are far from junk.

SherpaKroto said:

I have both Sherpas and MSR EVO Ascents. I love both, but the MSR's have become my significant other. I weigh 280 when geared up for a day hike (yikes!). I've climbed 11 4K/High Peaks with my MSR's with no noticeable wear/stress on the MSR's. I love the traction. In speaking to the MSR folks, they indicated that the EVO line uses a newer, strong plastic than the older models (I don't know if they also switched to this polymer on the older models in newer runs). YMMV, and with all respect to peak_bgr (whose opinions I would take to the bank!), my MSRs are far from junk.

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MSR Denali Ascents do say that they are for up to 125 pounds! Yes that is correct! If you get the extenders, then they say up to 275 pounds.

I was stunned to read this, as I have used a pair w/o extenders for 2-3 years. They are wearing out, but I weigh about 200 when geared up. I just ordered a new pair, so we'll see what happens.

One of our party (as he stated on page 1--spaddock) had the evo ascents. They performed flawlessly. The part of our shoes that failed has a different design on the toe scoop. There is more plastic involved with the deck area(on the evos). As I had mentioned in my earlier post, the salesman stated that he had never seen a failure such as that. But three brand new pairs bought from different areas is suspect when they all fail on the same trip. We weren't abusing them in any way(other than climbing Redfield...).

Here's the note I sent to customer service at MSR. Doug and Dave, you should check the date stamp on the bottom of your shoes cuz I'm sure whoever responds to this will want to know.


To whom it may concern,

I wanted to attach a jpeg file to this message but don't think I can. It is a picture of two brand new pairs of MSR snowshoes (different models) that failed in the exact same manner under benign conditions. Follow the links included to two hiking forums and you will find the photo plus ensueing discussion regarding these disconcerting occurrences. Have you had any other reports such as this?

http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=4667

http://www.adkforum.com/showthread.php?t=1631

My son and I own brand new MSR Denali Ascents and were on the same trip. To be honest I'm quite concerned regarding our safety on future trips to the Adirondack summits.

Sincerely,

Neil Luckhurst

Recently hiked 8+ miles on brand new pair of MSR evo ascents, up S. Hancock and back. wore the shoes whole time - over snow, rocks, etc.. weighed about 235 w day pack. no problems whatsoever.

Deematic said:

:In manufacturing there are variences and it sounds like some bad shoes got through Q.C. It Happens to Tubbs, Atlas, and MSR too. .

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But it happened to 3 different pairs of shoes. Like Hillman said, One pair were bought in Ottawa, one in Montreal, and one in New York. Dave's broke about 1 hour in (at least that's when we noticed it). When his broke we were on the approach to Flowed Lands on hard packed snow. To me there is no excuse for them to break there. I've banged around much more then that in spring conditions over rocky terrain with Atlas 10's. Hopefully my Evo's will put up with me.

Glad to hear that you emailed MSR Neil. Did you exchange your shoes at MEC? Dave already did, bought some Ursus shoes instead.


-Shayne