Snow Shoes

Ok, so like most modern Alaskans, I shop at REI. My card has a ridiculously low number, like my pilot’s license. Today, however, I’m ready to give the snow shoe things back. I’ve been working on snow shoes all morning, trimming bushes and trees, taking advantage of a few relatively warm sunny days where the snow has caked up from two days of rain. These YUPPIE snow shoes are simply not up to the task. The bindings are wonderful as are the metal cleats. A far cry from the crazy knot one had to tie in order to secure the old native wooden snow shoes, you know, the ones with caribou hide webbing, but there the distinction ends. The noise of the plastic on even the softest snow is loud enough to make the animals laugh, so hunting is out. The real problem is that even the most expensive modern snow shoes don’t have enough surface area to support even a child on snow, only on a hard frozen surface, thin snow or ice.

Give me a pair of Bear Paw snow shoes, native made for hard snow like today or Trail Shoes, those long narrow things with the pointy tails and the scoped up front end for real snow. These plastic things are worse than nothing in deep snow and a real frustration on hard packed days like today where every step into untracked cover results in a breakthrough. We use to be able to buy wooden snow shoes from LL Bean but no more. I have Bear Paws in the survival pack. I’ll break them out tomorrow. These plastic things would not do in the back country for mushing, trapping, survival or any serious purpose.

Most of the other modern itty ditty camping implements too, fall far short of functional in Alaskan back country. Give me a heavy down sleeping bag, a big ax, chain saw, lots of gas, a rifle, 500 rounds, a thousand matches and a cast iron skillet. Of course a cell phone might come in handy too.