Do SNOWSHOES Work? | Testing In DEEP SNOW, Bear Paw, Ojibwa Designs

Do snowshoes actually work? Real world testing in deep snow of traditional snowshoe styles!

Ok, Ok, this may not exactly be a scientific experiment, but heck, it's as close as I could get out here. often times I'm asked about snowshoes, which ones are best synthetic versus traditional, the best size to wear, etc.. so i figured, why not just head out onto the lake, stomp around in a couple different styles and see which performs best? So that's just what I did!

I chose to do this test on the lake, where the snow depths are consistent, unlike within the forest. I began with walking a straight line with my 12 x 60 Ojibwa style shoes, then followed it up by walking another straight line next to it with my Bear Paw style 16 x 30 shoes. I also wanted to show just how much snowshoes help, so I then took them off and walked another straight line without any snowshoes at all.....the verdict....SNOWSHOES WORK!

Overall and to my surprise, the Bear Paw's looked to offer a couple inches of extra floatation over the Ojibwa style. I was not expecting this as I've always used my Ojibwa shoes on the lakes and found they were superior. That said, the wider gait needed to walk in the Bear Paw's may mitigate the added benefit of the extra floatation. With the Ojibwa's, at least I can walk normally and over the course of several KM on the lake, this may be an important factor.

Of course in the forest, the Bear Paw's are superior, allowing for effortless walking over uneven terrain. As they have no long tail, it's easy to maneuver these around trees and turn 360 degrees.

There has always been a misconception that if you wear snowshoes, you won't sink down at all, but this is of course not the case. You'll always sink, the amount is just dictated by how deep the snow is, humidity, snow conditions, time of year, etc.. It's clearly evident though from this little experiment though, just how much flotation any type of shoe gives you over having nothing at all.

Time to head back to the cabin! Thanks for watching and please don't forget to subscribe to our channel and leave a comment below if you liked this one!

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