A New Winter Hobby

About a month ago, I picked up a pair of MSR Denali snowshoes on sale at REI; I finally got around to trying them out today. Man... definitely a nice way to get around; I hope I'll be doing it more often in the future.

I went out to Spy Pond--just across Mass Ave from my place.


It turns out the whole lake is frozen over solidly, so I walked the perimeter; pretty neat stuff.


It took a few tests to get the snowshoes fitted properly (so my toe cleared the opening, allowing pivoting). I sank a bit more into the snow than I expected (might need to try out floatation tails), but the toe crampon digs in nicely--you can get around pretty darn well. I tried a few techniques I read about--climbing hills using sidestepping, or doing switchbacks. Managed not to wipe out and roll down the hill or anything. And wandering along the lake [ka-shuk] [ka-shuk] [ka-shuk] [ka-shuk] [ka-shuk] was a great way to spend the afternoon. Legs are a bit sore, but in a good way.


Multiple groups had cleared out skating areas on the ice, shoveling enough to have a pickup hockey game. One group even brought out a pair of snowblowers, to clear off some space.


There were also folks ice fishing on the pond. Huh... no idea they did that around here.

If the snow holds up, maybe I'll try the Middlesex Fells next weekend.