It's time to consider snowshoes - Which ones?

[Naphtali]

We are having the heaviest snow accumulation in many winters. It's time to consider snowshoes. But I know nothing about the brands available.
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Modified Bear Paw is the most useful shape for my needs.

Snowshoes need to support 200 pounds maximum and 160 pounds minimum. This includes me and everything I'll wear or carry.

I prefer to avoid wood-framed snowshoes, and non-synthetic webbing.

I prefer to have easy on, easy adjust foot harness.

I prefer either integral crampons (Is this the correct term for spikes that aid traction?) or identification of removable crampons.

I prefer snowshoes to be among the most durable available. I am willing to pay for such durability.

[chinook907]

If you can get an older pair of Sherpa's they are great.  They have the gold anodized tubing, a lot of the newer manufacturers use tubing that is unnecessarily heavy.  The bindings and claw mechanism is excellent.  I have the largest pair they used to make (I think 10"x34") and they are very easy to walk in.  Whatever you get make sure the tips are upturned so you are less likley to dig into deep snow, and that they aren't so wide that you can't walk normally.  Longer is better than wider.

[Naphtali]

Originally posted by chinook907:
If you can get an older pair of Sherpa's they are great.  They have the gold anodized tubing, a lot of the newer manufacturers use tubing that is unnecessarily heavy.  The bindings and claw mechanism is excellent.

Does -- did -- Sherpa make a single model of snowshoe but in different sizes? If what you describe has a specific model designation, please identify it for me.

How long ago were these Sherpas discontinued? Will I be able to find New-Old-Stock?

If the Sherpas that you identify are not available, can you recommend snowshoes currently manufactured, or discontinued as of the end of last year?

[riot1013]

I have the MSR's with the high floatation tails.  They work very well as long as you are not carrying an enormous pack.  When I went to Navy SERE school in 2003 all of the instructors used either MSR or Atlas snowshoes.  Thestudents were given the old "tennis raquet" style military snow shoes from the Korean war. I have never been so miserable as I was with those things strapped to my feet.

Riot

[c ott]

Nap' I've got 2 pairs of the composite molded Tubbs snowshoes. Don't know if they even still make them, but the draw back is that they are heavier than the aluminum tubing type. They are nearly indestructable though. I'm sure some others can give more info. than myself, but my 2 cents would be to find something with a fully rotating binding. Keeps the back of the shoe from flipping snow up onto your backside with each step. I haven't used mine since moving to Tennesseee (big surprise huh?) and they just hang around these days.

[Roadkill]

Ron laClair just started on the shrew shoe.  looks interesting.  I have used Tubbs, Redfeather, Atlas, MSR you name it old Miltitary both magnesium and ash/catgut.  I like ash and catgut for memory's sake.  We also tested a pair made from the sdie walls of tires-made me walk like a pontiac -with a wide track
I was at tthe Corps' Mountain School and we bought and tested  everyhting on the market. Find a pair you like and that fit your style of walking-everybody's got an opinion-doesn't mean the shoes they recommend will fit your style of walking/shoeing.....

[hunt it]

Snowshoes are like bows one won't do it all. It depends greatly on the snow type and depth and then on total weight shoe to handle. I'm 6' 220 and use Tubbs Alaskans for snow 2 1/2 ft and under depth or deeper snow with hard surface crust. In deep powder 3 ft plus I find a much longer shoe necessary. You won't find much longer than 40" in the newer aluminum style shoes. You will need traditional wooden shoes for greater lengths. My Fabers are 56"x10" and work great in powder over three ft deep. The best shoes I ever used were 64" x 12" custom made ash. If you plan to shoe hilly country with lots of rocks and deadfalls then the aluminum shoes with jaws will serve you best. Cabelas has a great selection and you should have no problem finding some to suite you there. Several buddies have had great success with the Cabelas brand aluminum shoes. Up here we use are shoes hard and alot in winter months. Those new shoes Ron has a post on look fantastic if your looking for wood ones.

[NDTerminator]

I like good old reliable ash & rawhide Michigans with rubber bindings...

[Stone Knife]

I have a set of old school modified bear paw that i like a lot, my wifes are alu. frame with crampons I like those also until the snow is a little wet. When the snow is wet it sticks to the crampons and then it feels like your walking on a softball. A pair of each would be a good for most conditions.

[chinook907]

Naphtali,
To answer your questions:  Don't remember the model, I just measured the set I have now and they are actually 10" x 38".  I think Sherpa is still in business, they're new ones are good, I had a newer pair a few years ago but gave them to some friends, the tubing was heavier and the claw was longer which I didn't like, but that could be cut down.  Bet you could post some WTB adds online and find a pair.  Like the other guys said, lots of models work, bindings are pretty critical too.  Used to have a pair of the magnesium military shoes, the shoes themselves weren't bad but the bindings did not work very well and there was no claw so hills were problematic.  Mine work so well for me I wear them even on packed trails, it takes a lot of the squirrelliness out of the uneveness of trails.  With running traps and hunting may have over a thousand miles on my current pair, 1 stress crack on the frame to show for it.  Anyway I'm not a Sherpa rep !  My long winded 2 cents.

[WESTBROOK]

Iverson snowshoes are back in business in Mi UP.

Iversons-snowshoes.com

Eric

[Roughcountry]

I'll second the recomend on the Sherpas.

Mine are still going strong and I think I've had them at least 10 years. The bindings on mine are the best I've used, a quick lace on system.

Mine have traction crampons on the toe area only but my buddys later model has traction on the heel also. Better for going down hill, I sometimes get going faster than I'd prefure downhill  :D

[eidsvolling]

We have two pair of the original Sherpas here; they're excellent snowshoes.  (My wife dislikes the bindings, but I like them for their simplicity and reliability.)  The original manufacturer went the way of all flesh years ago.  Successive owners of the name ran it into the ground and are now out of business.  (I never cared for their designs.  YMMV.)  

A Canadian firm, IRL Supplies, "gets it" and sells an explicitly  Sherpa-like   Arctic Trekker ,  as well as Sherpa repairs and parts.

I also have a pair of MSR Denali Ascents.  They're the bee's knees on steep terrain, especially when it's icy.  I love the bindings -- easily manipulated with gloves or even mittens at subzero temps.  But I strongly dislike the noise they make with their (admittedly tough) plastic decks.  If you get MSR snowshoes, be sure to get the flotation tails simultaneously, unless you're relatively light.  And be sure you get the tails that are compatible with your particular model of MSR 'shoe.  I would never buy any in the MSR plastic line as my 'shoe of choice for hare and rabbit hunting -- they're way too noisy.  And their metal-framed Lightning line has some durability issues.

We also have a pair of Tubbs aluminum-framed 'shoes here   which my wife likes a lot.  Personally I find the current Tubbs and Atlas bindings to be fussy.  I'm also a strong adherent of strong and simple when it comes to bindings that I need to work   always  way, way back in the backcountry when it's way, way cold.  Not a fan of fussy for that reason.

If I were buying 'shoes for sneaking around after hares and rabbits and mebbe deer, I'd actually buy a pair of ash-framed, rawhide-laced (okay, maybe neoprene-laced) traditional snowshoes.  I had two pair as a kid and wish I had them now.  They're quieter than everything else and adequate for everything but mountaineering.  I would stay away from the true bearpaw style at one extreme and the true Alaskan style at the other.  Most everything else in between would work well as an all-around 'shoe.