SEC T I ON T WO
“...classic bent ash frames and rough, rawhide strips
that form the traditional wooden snowshoe...carry a
much deeper spirit of tradition with each step. ”
BELOW: AUTHOR, TOM WATSON
CUE THE S H OE
By Tom Watson
PHOTO COURTESY OF TOM WATSON
S
ome traditional outdoor “purists” prefer their wool
parka instead of a synthetic insulated Gore-Tex
jacket, others their wood-strip canoe over a rotomolded
hull, or in my case, a wooden-framed and rawhide-
webbed snowshoe over those made of high-tech metals
tubing and neoprene.
Whether it’s the swish-swish of the longer Alaskan/
Yukon style shoe worn when crossing a large open
expanse of a frozen, snow-covered lake, the chomp-
chomp of the shorter, stubbier Michigans/Bear-Paws
pounding down snow as you weave around clusters
of dogwoods and alders in the underbrush, or simply
tromping through a snowy landscape with relative ease,
each instills its own classic sensibility of snowshoeing.
My f irst pair of ash-framed, leather-webbed snowshoes
were a pair of Alaskan-style purchased in an Ely
hardware store in the heart of the BWCA during a
week-long winter camping trip. Failing at a novice
attempt to build a pair from scratch, I bought the
‘shoes only to discover the store had run out of leather
bindings. Using the last set my buddy had purchased
as a pattern, I found a bag of leather scraps at a local
cobbler shop and fashioned my own. Fifty years, and
several coats of spar varnish later, that particular pair
of snowshoes has a very special meaning to me and
remains my most treasured pair.
I’ve used both traditional and modern/western styles
of snowshoes - from cruising stands of timber in
Volume 03 No. 01 | 2019