whoo buddy Shug out here in a near whiteout on a 10 degree day in Minnesota
out here romping around in my gym boy style snowshoes so I'm home for about a
day off the road heading out to Arizona in the morning so it kind of got a
hankerin just to come out here on the lake kind of lay down a track so me a
Meg can come down a cross country ski later thought I'd come out early early
and sort of break the snow down a little bit so we have something to kind of get
down into do a couple of laps and then go in and have a early Valentine dinner
sounds romantic
pretty obvious looking at the size of them there that the agility MSR right
there this is much smaller even with the tail on and I got these new Canadian
bindings here on this one which worked really great they have one cramp on
right in the front they hook up very similar in the back as the MSR do and
this this part is very easy to get on and off right there but what makes me
nervous is just these thin little rubber pieces that hold it to the actual
snowshoe part so far so good I mean they haven't torn or anything and I've worn
them a good bit but we'll continue to check that out and then him here is the
MSR standard they have a nice pretty much the same way to get your back heel
and of course the best part of this snowshoe is all the aggressive traction
and crampons all around the edge that mainly all comes in really handy when
you're pulling a pull and you need that grip getting up hills on the trails and
all that and I'm not sure the Aegean with just that crampon is gonna be
enough yet on a pork with some severe Hills but I'll try it out sometime so
these have a real nice and easy way to tighten them up which is really cool you
just crank this and it ratchets to tighten it up and I can feel it kind of
snug on my toe right there and I can pop that little white tip and loosen it up
just a hair let's take a look from this angle now so to tighten just you can see
it ratcheting and tightening up right there
so it's a nice ratchet system to get that on and then of course just tighten
up your back strap as well which has a really nice very similar to the MSR
where you pop it through like that and then just clamp it off in the back on
your little clip and then when you want to undo these to loosen let's lift that
ratchet part just kind of take that white tab and just kind of loosen the
whole thing up like that it's real easy to get your foot in and out of there so
they can be slick and now to put on the MSR slide your foot in you have three of
these straps right here and of course they don't have to be as tight as you
think they have to be alright just get them snug enough to where they catch
right and that system same sort a little loop system here all right where I pull
this I know my hands in the way and I get it to kind of hook right there okay
and then I just slide it into the little the little clip keeper there's three of
these little Clips here and then I reach come around the back and on the back
here it's pretty much like the other snowshoe I go through my little clip
keep around a little bit pull it around the heel and get it hooked on and clip
it off that's pretty much how the snowshoes go on again it's pretty easy
to see right now with my feet in there the the length of each one of these and
alright and the way the bindings are hooked on so the Ghibli style definitely
has better float but here's the advantage is the MSR because it's
shorter when you're kind of back in the woods and you've got to let's say you're
sawing wood or you're gathering and you gotta back up and you
have to maneuver around the the MSR is just shorter and it's just a little
easier to do all of that with so as far as like turning if I was in really tight
woods and I got a I got a step back it's a little bit easier with the MSRs just
because they're shorter and these they get caught on stuff a little bit more
and when you're backing up it's a little harder to get them back and sometimes
when you're in cutting wood and you're trying to solve wood and get your toes
in there because these are kind of round and short like right now I was kind of
stuck down under something these are just a little bit more to maneuver so as
far as one over the other snow conditions the jib boy definitely floats
better but for in tight woods where there's a lot of brush and a lot of
scrub and you got to get back and cut wood get down gather water and stuff I
almost think for backpacking the MSRs are better more grip but I've been rough
on mine and never busted them wooden ones you know you can break I guess you
could break either but it's always good to bring yourself a little repair kit
any time you're out snowshoeing and gonna use them and get way back in the
woods it's good to have some wire some line a little repair kit with you just
in case you've got to fix them out in the woods and with the wooden ones
possibly a little splint but they're both good actually the best thing is to
own both but I end up using the MSR way more than I use the edge if way style
wooden ones traditional as they call them and yes sir I'm wearing my my snow
shoes of my Steiger mukluks right now my Steiger Yukon mukluks snow shoes work
great with mukluks
yeah in the old fire pit here we got us a heater out here I tarp it in in the
winter right out that way is my hammock hanging area timber-framed and I got me
a cool little roof up there and let's check this out
how about that huh all I do is run outside and pull a rope on one side and
now I'll go pull the rope on the other side I will tell you what that is like
the greatest in hillbilly technology in Emma bill Healy