Forums >Gears and Wears>Need running snowshoe recommendations
Funky Kicks 2019
I am relatively new to snowshoe running, having only tried it since January of this year. I had bought a pair of Tubbs Flex NRG women's snow shoes as my first pair. I went to put them up for the year and discovered the bottom metal plate on each one had cracked, and on the one it had broken completely through and a piece was missing. I am not a heavy runner (105-ish) and I had only put about 170 miles on them. Except for the metal breaking, I had been very pleased with them. Fortunately I can return them for a full refund.
But I am hooked on it for winter running and am now researching their replacement. Can anyone give me their recommendation? I run on a seasonal road that is unplowed (I live in upstate NY and get a good amount of snow each winter) but may or may not have snowmobile tracks that break trail. Sometimes I run in fresh powder several inches deep, sometimes it is icy and hard packed tracks. So I would need something that was somewhat versatile.
Thanks for any help!
Leah, mother of dogs
http://www.dionsnowshoes.com/
Can't go wrong with Dion. They sell a nice selection too. You can custom make your shoes, meaning pick your Frames, Cleats and Bindings based on your needs.
There customer service is top notch cause it's usually the Owner who responds. Oh did i mention they were the principal sponsor of the National Snowshoe Championships this year? Good stuff!
I currently have Model 132. It's great for groomed trails and good for un-groomed, powder and such up to 6 inches.. Depending on your needs i might suggest going to the Model 166 if your running mostly in powder and multiple feet of snow.
Cleats and Bindings are straight forward.
They have a nice explanation of everything under each category to suit your needs.
+1 to Dion. Not sure if there's any snowshoe races left near you this year, but they (western MA and probably VT, NH, and parts of upstate NY, which I recognize is anything outside NYC) used to have Dion models you could try at the races.You'd probably want one of the racing models. But if you wanted to do some backcountry work, you could also get a backcountry frame and use your same cleats and bindings.
Bob is an ultrarunner himself. My first pair of running ss were Northern Lites, but I inquired about the Dions after I heard about them. As it happened Snowshoe Nationals were up here and about half a dozen racers were using Dion ss. (Bob had given me a heads up who to look for.) They showed me the couple different models they had and how the cleats changed. We don't have that much consistent snow and when we do, there's enough hardpacked trails, that I put more miles on my Kahtoola MIcrospikes than I do my snowshoes these days, but they definitely get used.
Wow, Dion is fancy! I didn't even know you could buy components and custom build your own. I will definitely count on the customer service to help as I can see I am way over my head here.
Thank you both for the recommendation.
Refurbished Hip
I like my Atlas Runs. They've been great over the past 3 seasons or so.
Running is dumb.
I found a sale on a pair of Atlas Race snowshoes.
http://www.backcountry.com/atlas-race-snowshoe
But they are men's. I don't know if that matters???
I found a sale on a pair of Atlas Race snowshoes. http://www.backcountry.com/atlas-race-snowshoe But they are men's. I don't know if that matters???
Nope! They're unisex.
Oh excellent! Well I have an e-mail in to the people at Dion with some questions and if that doesn't pan out I will probably take advantage of the Atlas sale. Thanks again for your help.
Hip Redux
I like my husband's Dions a lot more then my Tubbs!