Lots a Snow

I agree with Dot that Yaktrax work best in softer conditions. I have
not had a chance to try them out on truly hard ice - solid, but not
hard.
The other limit they seem to have is; in the warmer weather 30's -
40's, the rubber gets to stretchy and the trax move around on the foot
too much or work their way off completely. I think a little product
development would produce a gripper that relied on lacing, not stretch
and had some barbs in place of the coils.
If we have another awful NE winter like this one, I think I'll try
screw-shoes.

/john

Hi Dot,
You must have a porch full of gear.
I think I am going to hang onto my older shoes this year and make a
pair of screw shoes. Our trails here in the NH Seacoast go from, hard
to soft to dirt and rock - all in one run. I liked the idea of the
Yaktrax becuase they seemed to leave the shoe tread useable and
exposed. I'd start drilling screws into my Hardrocks right now but I
have a feeling that I should play around with a pair of disposalble
shoes first.
We continue to have awful warm weather and I'll be hitting the trails
running again today. I should be waxing up and skiing.

/john

jgs said:

Hi Dot,
You must have a porch full of gear.
I think I am going to hang onto my older shoes this year and make a
pair of screw shoes. Our trails here in the NH Seacoast go from, hard
to soft to dirt and rock - all in one run. I liked the idea of the
Yaktrax becuase they seemed to leave the shoe tread useable and
exposed.

The yaktrax may keep your shoe tread above the ground level unless it's
soft snow - more so with the pro version because the coils are larger.
This is one reason they're so treacherous on really hard ice.

One advantage of the stabilicers is that they have sticky rubber that
comes down to ground level so you have both screw-like studs and sticky
rubber for traction.

I'd start drilling screws into my Hardrocks right now but I

Quoted message said:

have a feeling that I should play around with a pair of disposalble
shoes first.

Good plan.

Quoted message said:

We continue to have awful warm weather and I'll be hitting the trails
running again today. I should be waxing up and skiing.

We were in the 40s today, but I think it'll cool off tonight to keep
trails firm for the Su100 racers. They had really good trails to start
this am. In fact, the first 50k biker finished in about 2.5 hr, instead
of the 3.5 hr they were anticipating - people weren't even ready at the
finish line yet. First runners were under 4 hr. (might have been a
little short and was slightly modified from last year)

Elsewhere in the state it's been bizarre, 90mph winds and blizzard for
Yukon Quest sled dog race, avalanches in the Alaska Range (and
elsewhere), sea coming in over Iditarod trail (usually goes over ice
pack) on the coast so Iron Dogs got to see if their snowmachines could swim.

Dot

--
"Remorse - a good trail always makes you feel sorry that it is over no
matter how tired you are" - Matt Carpenter