Hive Snowshoes Combine Snowshoeing And Skiing

If you're new to snowshoeing and are ready to buy your first pair, you might get overwhelmed by all the brands, types, and styles. When I got introduced to this popular winter activity 4 years ago, and figured out what had worked for me, I tried to make it easier for my readers to make a choice by writing a short post on how to chose your snowshoes.

During my last snowshoe outing with EverGreen Escapes I used a pair of MSR Evo Snowshoes

Light, durable, and unisex,they also have good cleats that are equally suited to backcountry travel and groomed trails. Climbing the somewhat steep slopes of the Paradise Valley was easy and enjoyable. But on the way down I really envied skiers and snowboarders blasting past us on their split boards and BC skis.

Recently, I read about one German company that had designed a unique pair of snowshoes that double as a sort of short ski or glider.

This product is a new type of winter sports products - a reinterpretation and development of the traditional snowshoe.It combines hiking on a mountain with the subsequent “drive-down” in one product. Link

While this snowshoes won't exactly tackle the same range of terrain that a pair of big mountain skis would, they will allow you to hike uphill and then glide back down rather than stumbling your way down step by step.