What do you guys think about the military surplus snowshoes made from magenisum? Do they make good budget snowshoes?

I have a pair. They work as they should. Not great for uphill so much, but for rolling terrain they do just fine. A good way to see if snowshoeing is for you. I think I paid $40 with bindings shipped. Too cheap not to try.

Call some rental shops. I'm pretty sure one of my hiking buddies picked up a set of MSR's that way for about $25. If you decide to upgrade further, I bet name brand snowshoes would be a lot easier to resell.

Had a pair of aluminum military 'shoes W/ plastic coated steel cable webbing. (The shape is called "Michigan" style, it's a teardrop shape.) I cut a usless 5" off the tails and replaced the military bindings with far better LL Bean bindings. My next mod was to rivet 1" stainless steel angle (W/claw teeth cut into one edge) to the bottom of the LL Bean bindings but I never got that far. Sold 'em for $50. to a friend who used them for deer hunting.

I got some Atlas 800 series 30" 'shoes and was much happpier, except on steep, slippery traverses.

Now I have even better MSR Lightning Ascent 30" 'shoes. No more slippin' on those steep sidehill crossings.

Edited by Danepacker on 11/04/2011 19:35:59 MDT.