Speaker 1: Hello, everyone,
and welcome. This is Chris from Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. Today,
we're going to be talking about snowshoes. Speaker 1: The way snowshoes work is by spreading
out your weight. If I were to stick my hand straight into the snow, it'll go in pretty far
because I'm covering a smaller area. But if I lay my hand out flat and push it into the snow,
I sink in a little bit, but nowhere near as much. Snowshoes work in much the same way,
where they're dispersing your weight out over a larger area
instead of a smaller one. Speaker 1: Traditionally, snowshoes were
made by the First Nations and Inuit peoples using wood formed into shape and then laced with sinew.
These designs were light while creating a large surface area. There were a
variety of traditional styles, but the most recognizable is the beaver tail shown here.
Our modern snowshoes are made using plastics and metals and are smaller than most traditional
snow shoe styles. They also have some additional features such as crampons,
which are studs or spikes on the bottom that allow for better grip on ice and hills.
Speaker 1: When you're putting your snowshoes on, you want to make sure you're doing it on the snow.
If you're putting them on on the pavement, it can actually wreck the crampons on the bottom.
When you're laying them out, you want to make sure the left is on the left and the right is
on the right. Sometimes, they'll have an L and an R to let you know... For this one, though,
it actually has the strap facing outwards. Speaker 1: I'm going to slide my foot in here
under the straps. You want to get your toe overlapping the edge here just a little bit,
not too far because then I can't lift my foot, but not too far back because then I'm
not going to get the right amount of traction. Now, I'm going to pull the straps tight. You
want to make sure they're really tight so that your foot's not going to slide out. I can lock
inside here. And then at the back, I want to tighten that strap. Again,
really tight that it'll lock in place. And then you can do the same thing with your other foot.
Now they're on and I'm ready to go. Speaker 1: Walking in snowshoes
isn't that different than walking normally. You just want to make sure that you're not
overlapping your snowshoes because then you'll end up tripping and falling over.
As I'm walking, just make sure your feet are spaced enough apart that they're not going to
be bumping into each other. Just like this. Speaker 1: When you're walking over fresh fallen
snow, it can take a lot more energy than walking on a trail. So if you're walking as part of a
group, it's best to take turns in who's in the lead. When you're wearing snowshoes,
you'll also have much of the same motion as you would when normally without, so you can run
and you can also jump. Speaker 1:
Now that we've got some of the basics down, let's try checking out some of
the trails here at Albion Hills to work on some other techniques.
The trail that we're walking on here at Albion Hills goes through a forest,
around a wetland, and has lots of hills.
Now, when you're going downhill, you want to make sure that you're using those crampons, or those
studs in the bottom of your snowshoes. Those will really help to stop you from slipping and sliding.
Taking smaller steps will also help as well. Speaker 1:
All right, so we made it down to the bottom of the first hill, but we need to go up the next one.
When we're going up, you still want to use those crampons on your snowshoes,
really digging them in, but as well you can also make your snowshoes into a wedge shape.
If you get to a really steep part of a hill,
you can also turn your snowshoes sideways and sidestep up the rest of the hill.
Just a little bit at a time. Speaker 1:
Now that we've gone up our first hill, we're going to continue our walk through Albion Hills.
Wait a minute, I think we were supposed to go the other way. Now, if you've taken a wrong turn and
you need to turn around, there are a couple of ways you can do it. One is through a step turn,
where you just take small steps in a circle. It goes kind of like this.
It's pretty straightforward. Now, the next way you can do it is through a 180-degree
kick turn. That's if you're in a smaller space. Say there's trees on either side of you and you
don't have as much room to turn around. You'll kick up your foot, spin it around and then let
the other one follow. So I'll kick up my foot, spin it around and let the other one follow.
Now that we've got ourselves turned around in the right direction, let's continue our walk.
Let's head back to where we started to
finish up. Speaker 1:
When you're taking your snowshoes off and putting them away, you want to make sure that you're
cleaning all of the snow off of them. That just makes sure that they last a little bit longer.
Thanks everyone for watching and joining us here at Albion Hills. We hope you enjoy snowshoeing.