Snowshoeing

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Jolt- congratulations on your first shoe-in!!! Snowshoeing is easier than I thought it would be too, in terms of figuring out what to do. But it's also harder than my biking and fitness walking in terms of giving me a good cardio workout. If there's fresh deep powder and hilly trails and you're the first person to break the snow, then snowshoeing is hard work! If you're walking over someone's previous trail, no matter how small their prints are, it's immediately way easier.

Robyn,
I have read that when going downhill on snowshoes one should put weight down onto the heel of your foot so that your heel crampons can dig in and so that your foot will plant down level instead of tilted toe downwards. Feels odd at first to put your trust in that heel to stop you from sliding, but I'm finding that it works well for me so far in deep snow going downhill facing forward.
Have you found this heel down technique to be good in your own descents?

No new snow around here for the next few days...we're having a major warm spell. I'll have to be patient.

I find that I don't need to do much in the way of keeping my feet apart while shoeing- only have to do it a tiny bit when walking straight- but I wonder if perhaps that's because of my women-specific tapered Tubbs shoes. They are supposed to be tapered to suit a woman's gait more and supposedly prevent one from stepping on one's own shoes and tripping. Can't figure out if it's just my naturally wide hips, or my women's specific snowshoes that are helping me with that.

One funny thing is that if i am standing still gazing at the beautiful scenery (code phrase for "desperately trying to catch my breath"), and then decide to turn around and walk in a different direction, I have to consciously remind myself that I am on snowshoes. If I don't remind myself every time before I turn and move, I tend to just step right on my other shoe while turning and almost fall flat on my face. Too funny.