Post by Junior on Feb 9, 2021 1:49:01 GMT -7
Last winter we got more snow then I have ever seen where we are at here in Alaska, between 4 and 5 feet. It was nearly impossible to go out and do anything without snowshoed, so I started watching for a pair. I found a used pair of Atlas snow shoes on Facebook or somewhere and went and picked them up. I did not realize how small these were until I got them home, but I used them all of last winter.
Right after snowfall this year, I dug them out and noticed where the frame had broken on the one, so I started the hunt for a better pair and threw the atlas in the back of the shed.
The new set I found was a pair of the Magnesium US military issue one, in unused condition with the original bindings. I think I have the guy 40 bucks for them and was very happy with that.
The military snowshoes are traditional style with the tails on the back. These can be kind of a pain in the bit trying to turn around in thick brush, but do offer better flotation then the newer style shoes like my buddy Roy uses.
Ive gone out a few times this winter with them, and they work. The bindings are both the same, so the left one is a real bugger to get on and off, although the bindings are kind of a pain no matter what. Yesterday, we went out and checked one of Roy’s trap lines, and has to cross a fresh water spring at one point. The temp was about -25. Being that I was wearing my arctic bibs, I decided not to undo the pain in the butt bindings on my snowshoes and cross the creek with them on. This turned out to be a bad judgment call, as the snowshoes iced over very badly causing quite a bit of extra weight which made for hard going we had just gotten about 6” of fresh snow the night before, and this froze to the wet snowshoes instantly and just make them large ice saucers on my feet.
When we got back to the truck, the iced over snowshoes proved to be quite a ordeal to get off since they binders were all frozen as well.
Today it was about 45 below so I didn’t get out and do anything. I did get online and look at various snowshoe bindings. Roy has some modern snowshoes with very nice click buckle bindings that take about 10 seconds to take off without losing adjustment. I found a few different options for bindings I could put on the old military frames. Most of the cheaper stuff looked flimsy or like a pain in the butt. The ones I found that look good, with a ratchet system cost about 140 bucks, just for the bindings.
Part of being an Alaskan is working with what you got. At some point during the day I remembered the other pair of junk snowshoes and decided to see if I still had them. A little digging and I found them in the shed and got to work. It took a little work, but I was able to make some brackets and get the bindings from the Atlas snowshoes to fit the military frames. They are not quite as convenient as some other styles, but they do have a pretty simple cinch and release style strap, which is fairly fast to use. They also have ice cleats that protrude through the bottom of the snowshoe which should help with traction crossing ice.
Hopefully when it warms back up a bit, Roy and I are going to go check out of abandoned cabin I had found during moose season. There is a old trap line that starts in that cabin and heads up Donnelly creek, and I want to see if it has any potential to be reclaimed and put back into use. This should be a pretty good trip to test out the modified bindings and see how they work.
Right after snowfall this year, I dug them out and noticed where the frame had broken on the one, so I started the hunt for a better pair and threw the atlas in the back of the shed.
The new set I found was a pair of the Magnesium US military issue one, in unused condition with the original bindings. I think I have the guy 40 bucks for them and was very happy with that.
The military snowshoes are traditional style with the tails on the back. These can be kind of a pain in the bit trying to turn around in thick brush, but do offer better flotation then the newer style shoes like my buddy Roy uses.
Ive gone out a few times this winter with them, and they work. The bindings are both the same, so the left one is a real bugger to get on and off, although the bindings are kind of a pain no matter what. Yesterday, we went out and checked one of Roy’s trap lines, and has to cross a fresh water spring at one point. The temp was about -25. Being that I was wearing my arctic bibs, I decided not to undo the pain in the butt bindings on my snowshoes and cross the creek with them on. This turned out to be a bad judgment call, as the snowshoes iced over very badly causing quite a bit of extra weight which made for hard going we had just gotten about 6” of fresh snow the night before, and this froze to the wet snowshoes instantly and just make them large ice saucers on my feet.
When we got back to the truck, the iced over snowshoes proved to be quite a ordeal to get off since they binders were all frozen as well.
Today it was about 45 below so I didn’t get out and do anything. I did get online and look at various snowshoe bindings. Roy has some modern snowshoes with very nice click buckle bindings that take about 10 seconds to take off without losing adjustment. I found a few different options for bindings I could put on the old military frames. Most of the cheaper stuff looked flimsy or like a pain in the butt. The ones I found that look good, with a ratchet system cost about 140 bucks, just for the bindings.
Part of being an Alaskan is working with what you got. At some point during the day I remembered the other pair of junk snowshoes and decided to see if I still had them. A little digging and I found them in the shed and got to work. It took a little work, but I was able to make some brackets and get the bindings from the Atlas snowshoes to fit the military frames. They are not quite as convenient as some other styles, but they do have a pretty simple cinch and release style strap, which is fairly fast to use. They also have ice cleats that protrude through the bottom of the snowshoe which should help with traction crossing ice.
Hopefully when it warms back up a bit, Roy and I are going to go check out of abandoned cabin I had found during moose season. There is a old trap line that starts in that cabin and heads up Donnelly creek, and I want to see if it has any potential to be reclaimed and put back into use. This should be a pretty good trip to test out the modified bindings and see how they work.
