Snowshoes are flat and lightweight, and they work by distributing the wearer's weight over a larger area to prevent them from sinking too far into the snow. The part that our sneakers were strapped to was a pivoted platform (like a little seesaw) in the middle of the snowshoe, with a metal "claw" under our toes to dig into the snow and provide grip. Hopefully this description makes a bit of sense... see photo below!
At Cypress Mountain, we hiked through the woods on dedicated snowshoe trails, covering 7.77km in less than 3 hours! The fun part of showshoeing is that you can leave the beaten track and walk across pristine, untouched snow drifts, never sinking more than 30cm or so (without snowshoes it could be up to waist deep!). Walking down steep drifts often involves a bit of sliding as well! It was very very fun - and exhausting (for me)!! My legs are pretty sore today but it was worth it!
The woods were BEAUTIFUL! This was snow like I had never seen it before... pure, smooth, brilliantly white hills and valleys and holes and hollows formed by the wind and absolutely free of human footprints and snowboarders' or skiers' tracks... towering pine trees with snow-covered branches and big hollows around their bases where their branches had stopped the snow from piling up... snowflakes drifting down most of the day... The photos don't do it justice but it was AMAZING. Apparently we had some of the best conditions for snowshoeing, and despite that we didn't see a single other snowshoer all afternoon - only a couple of cross-country skiers!
Anyway, here are the photos!
Rosanne getting directions before we set off...
The start of the trails...
Figuring out which way to go...
Ben running through the snow...
Ben next to a "tree well"...
Looking back down a slope at our footprints (the actual trail is on the right)...
Rosanne, Stuart and I...
Approaching the "Warming Hut" (literally a very warm, unstaffed hut in the middle of the woods, with maps, cups and lots of water containers)...
Snow sliding its way down the roof of the Warming Hut...
On the road again...
Posing...
Off the beaten track...
A video of the boys getting down the hill in a hurry (Ben on the left, Stuart on the right)...
A tree well and snowshoe "sinkage" shot...
A sign we saw (we didn't see one of these birds in real life though) - how CUTE is it?!...
"As the three weary snowshoers prepared to enter the welcoming Hollyburn Lodge in anticipation of the hot chocolate awaiting them, they failed to notice the salivating wolf stalking them..."
A sign that will probably appall the Aussies (re water restrictions back home)...
A totally awesome snow-covered hut...
And the four of us at the end...
And that was our Saturday afternoon! :) The reason we know we walked 7.77km in snowshoes is because Stuart has a GPS watch that recorded our route and the distance travelled! Check out the map below - the black squiggle shows where we walked. You can see the start and finish points on the left near the words "Cypress Bowl Rd". Cool huh?!
That evening we had a big southern American take-out meal at Stuart and Rosanne's apartment, and lots of travel talk. What a great day!! :D
