Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuchs
I'm still confused there's such a thing as a Snowshoe magazine.
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There is a magazine of everything on the Internet. Also,
Rule 34.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuchs
Still, after having a glance at the article I cannot but wonder if the Russian wicker overshoes of days gone by wouldn't qualify as snowshoes as well, being meant for harsh winter (inevitably deep snow) and increasing the footprint a lot.
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There is also the
waraji in Japan which is sometimes used in the winter by climbers (well, trekkers, at least). Snowshoes in the North American sense typically combine traction and flotation. The
lapti and
waraji are essentially traction devices when used in ice and snow. As far as I know, prior to the
Atlantic exchange Europeans had skis only for flotation and the native peoples of North America had snowshoes only for the same (I do not know about Japan). The going theory relates this to differences in groundcover. The forested areas of North America were not welcoming to skis, though the longer types of snowshoes glissade pretty well.