A month or so ago someone posted on another web site a modification for his NorthernLite Snow Shoes.
I don't remember if he said why he did this but I saved his pictures. He replaced the rubber like straps with two pieces of webbing to hold his shoes/boots.

In the last Podcast from Andrew's "Icebox" hike he mentioned a problem with his NorthernLite Snow Shoes. He said that in the below "0" temperatures the rubber like stuff got so stiff they were really hard to fasten.

Anyway when I heard him mention this I thought about the webbing used to replace those rubber like straps.

I had a two-pack of the "Coghlan's - Sleeping bag Straps". It took me about 15 minutes to make this modification. The new strap system makes putting my shoes on quick and easy.

Hi Bill,
According to my experience with snowshoe binding I made in a very similar way some time ago, I must war you of using the straps.
The periodical stress at each step is able to losen the fasteners surprisingly fast. I ended up tightening the binding every five minutes or so at the end of a day, as both the straps and the fasteners worn out a bit.
I'd recommen only a very coarse strap combined with quality fastener.
After that lesson, I rebuilt the bindings to use a lace. This setup was a bit difficult to use in low temps as it required putting the gloves off.
Finally, I've developed great fastener to be used on a narrow strap, that can be easily operated in gloves. It's similar to the system used on crampons, but adds a pullout for easy losening.

Here comes a picture:

I satrted with two metal rings, but they were too slick. I replaced one by a large washer, and the sharper edge now holds perfectly.

Edited by zkoumal on 02/15/2007 15:32:13 MST.