Doomed to a low snow winter

[peakbagger]

I pulled the trigger on a new pair of Lightning Ascents today as my 18 year old Tubbs Katahdins were starting to show some age. Unfortunately there seems to be an inverse relationship between buying new gear and having the right conditions to take advantage of them . My only hope is that others will try to stretch the life of their old gear one more year and offset my new gear purchase so we will have epic conditions.

The rear heal cleats were worn down into knubs and the heel plates are cracked. Still usable as the heel cleats were an official Tubbs upgrade a few years after I bought them. If I get the same life out of the new MSR's I will be retired before I need to buy some unobtainium snowshoes. .

Always good to have a spare pair.

 

[sierra]

I bought the Lightning ascents at the beginning of last winter and to be honest I love them, they are light and seem to provide good traction. I bought them to replace my Sherpa's ( with the aggressive crampon) to be honest my sherpas are still in great condition other then the binding loops that the straps go through, Ive lost 4 or 5 of the loops, but I cut slits into the neoprene binding to thread the webbing through and that fix has never failed. I just felt like buying a new pair, time will tell if they will match the durability of my sherpas which have withstood over 20 years of serious bashing. The only drawback so far, my sherpa crampons where way more aggressive. Good luck with yours I had to get yellow, who sat in MSR's drafting room and said "hey yellows cool" red would have rocked.

 

[DSettahr]

I'm glad to hear it- I have to pay for plowing this winter.