Thinking About Snowshoes

Iverson Snowshoes, the venerable Michigan based maker of traditional ash-frame and laced snowshoes, has an active social media presence. Today they posted the following on their Facebook page, and I found it very compelling. Although I don't have Iversons (Yet.) I have always used traditional snowshoes over the past 54 years, since I was 14 years old. One by one, I have watched the names synonymous with "wood frames and rawhide," like Tubbs, Faber, Heilman, Freeman, and others vanish from the market. It's a shame, because with each brand that disappears, a bit of winter history goes away as well. I'll continue my comments after the post from Iverson's:

Iverson Snowshoes is feeling thoughtful.

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"Pardon the long post but I just had a customer ask me why (insert big outdoor retailer name) only had aluminum snowshoes and it caused me to think others may also be wondering about that. The shortest answer is that we aren't sure but a likely explanation based on our experience is the ability to mass produce. Traditional snowshoes like we make must be made by hand by skilled craftspeople who have developed experience in selecting, cutting and bending the wood and in weaving the lacing. The large companies want high volumes at low prices. Extruding aluminum tubes and wrapping them in plastic can be done in a factory at scale with a relatively untrained workforce. We can do the high volumes by training and building our workforce but the low prices part is impossible for a traditional snowshoe maker to address. We had a long relationship with a large outdoor retailer and made shoes that they sold under their brand for years. They stopped working with us a few years ago. We were told that they made a corporate decision to no longer handle low volume suppliers. The aluminum models have their place but a traditional woven snowshoe will always provide better flotation, especially off-the trail and in deep snow. Aluminum snowshoes are also louder and of course do not have the beauty of a traditional aesthetic. For many people who want to stick to the packed trails in their neighborhood, the aluminum models will serve them just fine so that has become what most people think of as a snowshoe nowadays. Our snowshoes are a call back to history and a time when things were made by hand but they are also functional and very effective. In off-trail applications or deep snow anywhere, traditional snowshoes excel in performance while being quiet and also looking really cool."

I've used aluminum (Original Prater Sherpas) at work when I was a ranger. After having my snowmobile break down twice while I was grooming x-c ski trails, I always carried snowshoes with me. But on the dense, wet snow that bogged down and mired the sled, snow balled up on the cleats/crampons under the binding and I would have to stop and clean them out. With my personal neoprene laced Freemans (An Adirondack company that no longer is in business.) I didn't have that problem. Another issue with "new-fangled" snowshoes is, because of the aforementioned traction devices, they are neither viable or comfortable on shallow (less than 3-inches) snow.

Moreover, it boils down to the fact that I am very traditional in my activities. I wear wool clothing, pac boots or mukluks, and snowshoes that fit my style. I did (and still would, if asked) talks on snowshoeing history while I was a ranger, and although I mention aluminum and now, polycarbonate 'shoes, I emphasize the beauty, simplicity, and joy I get out of my wood-framed snowshoes. They are everything Iversons say they are, and I wouldn't trade mine for anything in the worlds.

PS: Iversons also post some of the most beautiful snowshoe photographs
on the web on their Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/snowshoes

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

The Legend of the Red Parka

People have asked me for years, "why do you wear red jackets/parkas?" It's actually an interesting story, and it all started with a dog food company.

Some have suggested that we did it to imitate the New York State Forest Rangers, whom the Wilderness Search and Rescue Team, the unit I helped found in 1979, worked with extensively, and wore red Johnson Woolen Mills jackets. Yeah, but, no. When Wilderness started out, we gained a lot of expertise from the volunteer search and rescue (SAR) teams of Los Angeles County. At that time, both Sierra Designs and Woolrich (Which made/makes mountain parkas for LL Bean.) made 6-pocket "mountain parkas" out of a nylon/cotton blend called "60/40 Cloth" (or 65/35 for Woolrich) in a muted orange color. SAR teams all over the country wore them, including our friends in LACo, so we did too. However, for reasons that were never completely explained. orange 60/40 cloth disappeared from the marketplace sometime around 1982.

At roughly the same time, the animal feed giant, Purina, started taking an interest in supporting SAR dog teams. Initially, they wanted to brand them as "Purina Hi-Pro SAR Dogs," but that idea was quickly scrapped. Instead, they offered free dog food, mega-publicity, dog vests, and Woolrich mountain parkas for hundreds of teams nationwide. Since orange was no longer an option, and also since Purina's colors, coincidently, are Red and White, they struck a deal with Woolrich to provide free red, wool-lined jackets to SAR dog handlers, with "Purina Hi-Pro Search and Rescue Dogs" emblazoned in white screening over the left chest pocket. Not ones to look a gift horse (or dog) in the mouth, we took advantage of the offer and changed from "International Orange" (for those like me who still had their Sierra Designs parkas. Still have it, BTW.) and blaze orange, to Purina Red. It stuck.

Today, forty years later, most search and rescue teams have switched to either blaze orange or lime yellow, and most of the original mountain parka suppliers (LL Bean, Woolrich, Sierra Designs) don't make them anymore. Occasionally, Bean or Woolrich will bring them back for a time as a "legacy" item but most of the time you can only find them used, online. I've only ever worn out one Woolrich mountain parka; the one from Purina finally wore out at the elbows. I gave a blue one away, and I still have my original orange Woolrich SAR parka, with the patches still in place. Someday when Wilderness Search and Rescue gets a permanent home of their own back in Syracuse, it will hang there.

I am no longer in Search and Rescue, and I retired from the park ranger ranks in 2015. But the rangers (and New England game wardens) still wear red, and so do I. After 26 years as a ranger, and 20 years wearing red in the volunteer trail patrol, it has become part of my identity. A number of years ago, my wife bought me a brilliant red wool Filson Mackinaw for Christmas. It has been my "good" coat since then, although I've found that I now wear it more frequently than just going to church on Sunday. I still have my second red Woolrich/LL Bean parka, which now has the insignia of the Backcountry Trail Patrol embroidered on the chest. The Patrol, like many mountain bike and ski patrols, switched to red jerseys and jackets in the 1990s. I was able to grab another wool-lined red mountain parka in one of those aforementioned "legacy" sales, and a Loden green one as well. They are my "go-to" outerwear at least eight months of the year. They are the most comfortable, functional coats I own. I probably won't wear out the ones I have in my lifetime, but I wish that Woolrich or LL Bean would bring them back.  It's a "legacy" waiting to be reborn.