Yes, yes, Sundance opened today and I do love that resort, but I have a little confession to make, I refuse to ski on crappy snow any more. I’m not as young as I once was, and my knees don’t have very many hard charging ski days left in them, so I’m saving them for the good stuff. Ouch. It actually pains me to write that. Lucky for me on days like today I can always fall back on my second winter love: Snowshoeing! WHAT!?! You’ve never been, you say? Well, well, well, let me just answer some basic questions right up front; Is it easy? Yes, I can honestly say that I’ve never fallen snowshoeing, no helmet required. Is it cheap? Double Yes, you’ll never have to spend any money on lift tickets, or wait in lines or freeze your butt off waiting to arrive at the “good” part of the mountain, but more on that in a minute. Can I do it with my family? Heck yeah! You can even do it with your dog, cat, boa constrictor, etc., (I’d like to see you try and go skiing or snowboarding with your dog. Seriously, send me the video.) Is it an awesome way to rediscover some of your favorite hikes with the landscape covered in snow? Ding! Ding! Ding! Snowshoeing rocks! It’s a great workout, it’s peaceful and thanks to it’s relative obscurity behind the more X-Games friendly winter activities on most people’s priorities lists, it’s secluded. I avoid a lot of the most well known local trails in the summer because of the crowds, but in winter I just strap snowshoes to my feet and I have the trails all to myself.
Let’s talk gear. Here’s my setup for a basic snowshoe day hike on a day like today, i.e. slightly overcast, not too cold, decent snow (for snowshoeing):
1. (Base Layer) Arc’Teryx Rho boot cut polar fleece bottoms. These are my favorite base layer fleece pants ever. The 3/4 length or boot cut is the best for skiing, and I am wearing my merino wool ski socks with them today so it still works. I should mention that I like to class up my fancy fleece pants by wearing cheap denim jeans over them. Under different circumstances I’d definitely pick a waterproof soft shell pant like the Mountain Hardwear Synchro, but today we kept it casual.
2. (Base Layer) Silk thermal top. Nothing like the smoothness of silk against your skin and it’ll keep you warm to boot.
3. (Mid Layer) Mountain Hardwear Windstopper Tech Vest. I could also use this as the outer layer but mine’s a little too small so I like it as a mid.
4. (Outer layer) Wool shirt. Do you own a wool shirt in classic lumberjack plaid? Then you already know how awesome they are. Mine keeps me super toasty and since I was fairly confident of not getting rained on today, I went with the brawny look.
5. Mountain Hardwear Butter Fleece Balaclava. This little thing is like a second, warmer skin over your head, I always forget I’m wearing it. It’s light weight and doesn’t effect your hearing. Win.
6. High Gear Axio Max Summit Series Sport watch. I could (and probably should) do a whole additional post about this gadget, it’s sweet. It has every thing I need to help me find my way in the back country. Not essential to today’s little adventure, but I like to know what time it is.
7. MSR Denali II trekking poles. Poles designed to compliment the awesome MSR snowshoes. The big winter baskets make for firm placements in the snow. They have two sections for breaking down small for packing, hence the “II”.
8. MSR Lightning Ascent Snowshoes 25″. More on these in a second, did I mention, they’re awesome.
9. The North Face Hedgehog GTX trail running shoes. WATERPROOF trail runners. If you had some, your feet would be dry right now.
10. Vaude (almost rhymes with Howdy) Jolly Comfort IV Child Carrier. One of my favorite things ever, it goes wherever I go with my kids. Carries the best of any brand I’ve tested. A little pricey, but worth it.
Not listed: Windstopper beanie, Dakine mitts, First aid/emergency kit, snacks, all stuffed into the massive storage compartment under where the baby sits in the pack. Wifey carried the water and the camera this time.
Now back to my favorite part: The MSR Lightning Ascent snowshoe. Best Snowshoes ever period. For a couple of years now the good people over at Mountain Safety Research have been pounding out the finest snowshoes known to man. Do whatever it takes to get your hands on some, I promise, you’ll be in love.
The lightning takes the basic frame and suspension concept of the snowshoe and pushes it way out in front of the pack. They made ‘em epic by using a single-piece, machine-pressed 360º Traction frame with steel cross members and pivot crampons, as opposed to bulky tube frames with no cross members and lil’ dinky nubs for “crampons”. What that means to the user is this is a snowshoe that gobbles up trails, traverses, and steeps alike. The frame is like a cookie cutter on the surface of the snow. I have never had another shoe that was as solid on steep uneven terrain, it’s almost like magic. To compliment their willingness to go up the steeps, MSR gave the Ascent series the Ergo Televator bar. My wife dared me to take a shortcut up and over a slope today and even though I was wearing a thirty pound load (see: baby) on my back I barely felt a thing in my legs when we got to the plateau.
The icing on the cake has to be the Posilock AT™ bindings. Never has it been so easy to attach snowshoes to almost any footwear – sorry, Chaco fanatics, I just don’t see it working this time. They even eeked out a minor improvement over last year by replacing the plastic strap clips with a much more secure stud post to pin your straps down. And what straps, you’ll never have to worry about fiddling with frozen webbing with MSR snowshoes. They all use strong rubbery straps that are as easy to use as they are to replace should one get chewed up by your jealous dog. Now for my favorite part:
How do you improve on perfection? In a word, Modularity.
New for 2010/2011, they made freaking tails for the Lightning. Now you can have your cake and eat it too. You can buy 22″or 25″ shoes for more nimble, or casual pursuits and you can attach 5″ tails for those times when you’re hauling a pack or hitting an untouched meadow of powder and you want to float across it like a ghost.
The best part is this, we sell these things right here in Orem, Utah. I know you were thinking you had to fly to Greece and summit Mount Olympus and leg wrestle Zeus to get some since they’re so awesome , but no, it’s as easy as driving to Out N Back and laying down an easy $269.95. See, I told you, cheap. You can only buy half of one ski for $269.95! MSR has a few other models like the EVO or the Shift for the big kids or the runner in the family that are a little less money, but the Lightning Ascent is the smothered burrito. Just trust me and spring for the enchilada sauce.
I’ll see you out there,
-Kelly
