Some folks love snowshoeing. However I will take my microspikes any day.

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I’ve solely been snowshoeing just a few instances in my life, and to be trustworthy, it was a kind of actions that sounds much more enjoyable than it’s — regardless of the honest suggestions of mates and fellow writers over time.

Here’s what I’ve encountered thus far: a number of ice and filth and crusty layers of snow. I’ve been on trails the place these layers required a number of stomping, or falling by the snow — or what outdoorsy varieties name “postholing.” The trails have typically been tough to seek out, and the carved-out tracks don’t at all times match the width of the snowshoes. Pictures I’ve seen of individuals snowshoeing make it look so fairly — with folks tramping by powder below blue skies. I haven’t actually discovered that to be the case.

Last 12 months, my spouse and I snowshoed to a hut close to Tennessee Pass. On our means again down the subsequent morning, we took one other path, strolling with simply our boots and a few microspikes to assist us preserve our footing. And, actually, it was much more enjoyable.

That wasn’t the primary time I’d used microspikes (there are numerous manufacturers of those slip-on traction gadgets, together with MICROspikes). Because, let’s face it, I’m not younger. And I’m sometimes grumpy.

A couple of years earlier, after complaining about how tough it was getting for me to stroll on the ice, particularly within the mountain cities we go to, my spouse received me a pair. I beloved them. Not solely did they make it simpler for me to stroll in parks and open areas, however I might go for hikes within the winter and the shoulder seasons with out worrying about slipping and falling or, you already know, simply seeking to others like a white-tailed deer fawn making an attempt to take its first steps on a frozen-over pond.

I now personal two pairs of spiked traction gadgets — my son received me the second pair, so I assume the complaining paid off — and a set of Yaktrax, that are extra for strolling on combined terrain since their steel traction items are flatter than spikes. And I’ve completed extra strolling within the winter than ever earlier than, in addition to within the shoulder seasons, when mud can flip into ice in a single day.

I haven’t wanted them as a lot this 12 months since 2025-26 has became the winter-that-wasn’t, however I like preserving them in my climbing backpack simply in case. Some open air fanatics don’t like these sorts of spikes as a result of they really feel like they’ll tear up the bottom or give ice-climbing mountaineers a false sense of safety. Since I’m in no hazard of making an attempt to scale Longs Peak in the midst of winter, although (or ever, frankly), I feel they supply an actual sense of safety.

Sorry, snowshoes.

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