Reliable snowshoes

[John H Swanson]

Showshoe weights

I weighed some of my shoes:

The new 30" Sherpas (smaller 3/4" dia tubing and thinner decking material) with the Tucker bindings AND the heel claw weight 4.5 lbs per pair.

The old 30" Sherpas (7/8" dia tubing) with tucker binding made out of the old white material and thicker tan decking W/O heel claw weigh 4.75 lbs.

The old 25" Sherpas (7/8" dia tubing) with newer tucker binding made out of the black material and thicker tan decking W/O heel claw weigh 4.5 lbs.

Atlas advertize 5.25 lbs for the 30" 1030 series. I called them and asked if this is true and they said yes. I haven't weighed them.

As a side note, I wouldn't use the lotus binding. Too many horror stories

 

[CaptCaper]

[ It will be a long time before I believe new shoes are lighter than wooden ones... I used to believe that, but now it mostly seems to border on false advertising.
I picked up a pair of msr's in a store and was surprised how heavy they were..Sherpas are no light weights either ...which I think encourages people to use undersized snowshoes while the companies try to tell us they are light..but not just downright to small.......
then again I could be wrong...... [/B][/QUOTE]

I had some Tubbs before and my wife still has a pair of Altitude's that I put a pair of Vipers on them.

I just sold two brand new pairs of Sherpa Trackers and 1 pair of 30 Mountains. All with Lotus Comfort bindings. They're not a bad shoe at all. I had trouble like I said a few times. The first time they were on only 45 min. I sent them back to Sherpa and they relaced them and put a stop behind the strap that the rod the binding sits on to stop the deck from sliding backwards again,but it still did in the back half. I couldn't get the heel near centered either. The decking isn't as chafe resisent as the Tubbs ARC TEC.

I feel the type of hiking here in the northeast is tough on these shoes.

I sold the Sherpas to parkrangers out in Shoshone, Idaho were the avalanche killed the parents in the log cabin. They love em out there. Deep power often no rocks to speak of.

The new 04 Pinnacles with T91's are so light I hardley feel them on my feet. I did weight them and the Sherpa Mountain 30's I have and they were about 1/2 lb. lighter if I remember. I liked them enough to buy 3 new pairs to upgrade our arsonel..

I find one never knows when your going to need an aggressive crampon on a snow shoe so I take the Pinnacles. I'd rather have something that works on all surfaces. After my G12's those Vipers are too bad.

 

[JJwilliams]

no one uses traditional shoes huh?

I base them as my choice only because my father's friend is a real guide, full time, not a transplant who works weekends or summers, he is also a professional trapper and cover hundreds and hundreds of miles a year. lives 4.5 miles from a road, has to go everywhere in shoes, he jogs in 60" alaskan trail shoes like they aren't there. anyhooo, his father and grandfather are pretty famous guides where I'm from and they all use traditional shoes, most they make themselves so I guess if they break its a simple thing to fix them since you made them.

they have shoes that are 20 or 30 years old and still in use, some fixed spots.

keep in mind because of my leg I can't really snowshoe at all but ai have tried it a bit, doesn't work out for me too well though, i would love to go in winter though.

 

[DLhiker]

another vote for Tubbs

Love my Tubbs Sierras with T91 bindings--30"ers. I will soon apply the viper claws.