We don t often think of the debt that winter sports owe to adventurers of the past, but back before humans had the spare time to think about recreation, snow was more obstacle than opportunity. Early inhabitants of snowy climates found that wrapping furs around their feet kept them warmer, but did little to keep them on top of the snow. It s been around for about 5,000 years. Snowshoeing now ranks as the second fastest-growing winter sport, after snowboarding. In fact, snowboarders themselves are in large part responsible for snowshoeing s popularity.
Snowshoes are the vehicle of choice for getting beyond ski area lifts into the backcountry.
Even the U.S. Army s peacekeeping mission in Bosnia traveled on snowshoes. Snowshoes in old drawings and photographs look like humongous tennis rackets without handles. They were made of bent wood and leather webbing. Newer snowshoes, made of aluminum framing and space age plastics or nylon, are smaller, quite sleek, and lightweight. Some are even designed for racing, and some foot racers prefer to train on snowshoes because there is less impact on the knees.