Is it me or my snowshoes??

[MEB]

Last fall when I started to get excited about winter hiking I started pulling out my winter gear to look it over. To my dismay, my Tubbs snowshoes which I've had for a good 10 plus years showed signs of deterioration. So, I sent them back to Tubbs, they fixed them but recommended I get some new ones as mine were very worn in too many places. So, for my birthday I got a fancy new pair of the MSR Lightening Assents.

Ok...so the first few times I use my new fancy snowshoes I think they are great, expect for the fact I now have six straps to deal with instead of just one easy buckle. Ok, no big deal and I guess I'll just get used to it. Last week when I was out I wore them all day and on the steep ups I was able to use the heal lifts which I just loved. This weekend though, I'm not quite sure what happened. On my way up North Hancock the heal lifts kept going down. I would take about five steps and then down they would go....I would stop and put them back up...take a few steps and down they would go again and again and again I got so annoyed fiddleing with the heal lift and adjusting the straps that I finally just took them off. Ugghh.

Has anyone else had this happen?

-MEB

 

[una_dogger]

Uh oh...I have not had any problems with my televators but I noticed when I first got them, I had to ask MichaelJ to pull them up and down for me, and now I can do it by myself. We were just discussing yesterday on Carrigan (where they were mostly in the "up" position ) whether or not this was a sign of potential slippage to come.

I'm sorry to hear that this seems to be happening with yours.

I wonder what MSR will have to say about this???

 

[highonlife]

Make sure your foot placement is right if not your televators won't stay up...that happened to me and I just moved my feet further down and make sure your televators are all the way up...

Hope this helps ...I love mine ...

 

[MichaelJ]

I went out on the Air Line a week ago and I had that problem - my televators keep slipping down. This past weekend on Carrigain I had no problems at all. There were two differences...

One is that I really made sure the ball of my foot was where the snowshoe indicated. This put the tip of my Koflach well forward in the binding, and so my heel was landing evenly on the televator.

The other difference is that going up the Air Line i had to do a lot of stepping around and over rocks, going from angled to flat steps, going sideways, etc. which probably put a lot of weird angled pressure on the televator, while on Carrigain it was a very even, each step facing straight forward.

I don't know if one or the other was more responsible, but I definitely had a better televator experience this trip.

Una_dogger and I have the Evo Ascents, btw.

 

[MEB]

MichaelJ,

Your snowshoes have a shoe indicator??? I'll have to check mine over when I get home tonight. I really miss my Tubbs...I always knew right where my foot was supposed to be, oh, they were just so easy to put on. By reading some of the other threads about the msr's looks like I'm going to have to carry a repair kit now......

-MEB

 

[hikerfast]

thank you guys for the thread and input. im thinking of buying new snowshoes and its good to be hearing this stuff.

 

[spider solo]

MichaelJ,

Your snowshoes have a shoe indicator??? I'll have to check mine over when I get home tonight. I really miss my Tubbs...I always knew right where my foot was supposed to be, oh, they were just so easy to put on. By reading some of the other threads about the msr's looks like I'm going to have to carry a repair kit now......

-MEB

Ill be curious how you make out...it's the strap arrangement that I'm dubious of. There are several companies using those kind of straps on their lower end shoes and I can't imagine fiddling with them and all the floppy extra stapping..some folks love the shoes but I haven't had the desire to put them on as yet.

 

[carole]

im thinking of buying new snowshoes and its good to be hearing this stuff.

Atlas 12 series -- Love, love, love them

 

[una_dogger]

I like the straps and foot cradle on my MSR Denali Evo Ascents. I find them very easy to use with cold hands and they don't flop around because they have nifty little "keepers" that slide over and hold down the slack.

I like my MSRs alot, and my only real concern is how the plastic frames will handle rocky trails....so far, so good, but I've seen pics of the lower end model pretty torn up.

Probably a good idea to carry spare parts for any snowshoe/traction device.

BTW, they spark on rocks while night hiking....kewl.

 

[MichaelJ]

Yes, mine have a circle at a certain spot on footbed labelled for the ball of the foot to line up there.

I love these bindings (and shoes) compared to the Atlas 1033's I used to use.

 

[GlennS]

I was cursing Tubbs on Saturday. I had a problem with my Tubbs Mountains on my hike up Stony Brook to Moriah. Just as I reached the Carter Moriah trail junction, both bindings failed. One of them to the point where it completely separated the snowshoe from binding. Too much damn plastic. What were they thinking? Needless to say, I wasn't happy.

Luckily a group of four wearing MSR snowshoes happened along. I managed to follow their track with only the occasional posthole.

I took the Tubbs back to EMS today and bought a pair a nice new MSR Lightning Ascents. Man those things are light and look fast. I hope not too fast though, I want to enjoy the peaks I have left on the list.

 

[Oldmanwinter]

Tubbs and MSRs

I own both Tubbs Mtn expedition and MSR Denali evo ascent snowshoes, I much prefer the MSRs. They are narrower and allow me to walk with a more natural gate and the heel lifts are super (never had one go down unintentionally). I started the earlier thread about losing the clevis pin/split ring assembly and asked who else experienced this problem. There were no replies saying they had a similar failure so I figure it's rare. I contacted MSR today (excellent customer support) and arranged to have some spare pin assemblies sent to me. My wife uses Tubbs exclusively. Both are good but I'm sticking with my MSRs.
OMW

 

[NewHampshire]

I like my MSRs alot, and my only real concern is how the plastic frames will handle rocky trails....so far, so good, but I've seen pics of the lower end model pretty torn up.

They are going to get chewed up no matter what. The unfortunate side effects of using all plastic. But I don't care. Every scuff, scrape and chew mark is just "character" and a badge of honor that shows they get used .

Brian <-----no Problems yet with his Denali Ascent's (though I've yet to actually use the televator .)

 

[una_dogger]

I agree scrapes add character, but I've seen the frames snapped in two, and I'd like to avoid that!

 

[Shardik]

MEB,
Same thing happened to me on Sunday. First time in two years . My partner noticed that they weren't making the right contact . When ascending , the boot may slide forward a bit. You just have bring your boot back a bit and adjust the 3 straps. I will keep an eye on this.
These are great snowshoes, perfect for steep ascents up and down.
The crossbar crampons keep you from sliding down and the elevators save your calves.
On ice , as long as the incline isn't too steep , I would't want anything else.

I have the Lightnings 25 inch size and I don't expect a lot of flotation though. So far its never been an issue.

 

[NewHampshire]

I agree scrapes add character, but I've seen the frames snapped in two, and I'd like to avoid that!

Yikes! I agree....thats a bit more character than I want to see too!!!!

Brian

 

[MEB]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I guess I may have been a little negative about the snowshoes...they are nice and all but I seem to be lacking faith in how they will hold up with extended use. It just seems as though there are too many parts that can fail. I did call MSR yesterday and explained what had happened. They said this might be an isolated case and I can send them back. I think I'll try adjusting the foot placement next time I'm out. I also expressed my concern about the pins falling out and asked if they could send me some spares....they said they would but there would be a charge.....but, if I had lost a pin then they would send replacements free of charge.

-MEB

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Tbut, if I had lost a pin then they would send replacements free of charge.

"Oops"

Tim

 

[Shardik]

I also expressed my concern about the pins falling out and asked if they could send me some spares....they said they would but there would be a charge.....but, if I had lost a pin then they would send replacements free of charge.

-MEB

Thank you !

 

[Neil]

If the little rubber tab for pulling the ascender bars up gets caught it can prevent the bar from clicking into position and the bar will go down. (I raise and lower mine in a flash with my hiking pole.)