Replacing Snowshoe Straps

[Miguel Arboleda]

I have a pair of old MSR Denali Classic snowshoes whose rubberized plastic straps snapped off in the cold last year while hiking (had to jury rig them with a rubber truck band that worked, but was very cumbersome to lace on). I was thinking of replacing them with regular nylon webbing, but am pretty sure they will get brittle in the single digit temperatures of the winter mountains here. What would others recommend? I don't want to buy (actually I DO, but I'M NOT GIVING IN TO THE URGE!) new snowshoes seeing as these are perfectly usable and I only go snowshoeing a couple of times a year. What do others use for homemade snowshoe straps?

[drowning in spam]

Why jury rig it if you can get replacement parts?

http://www.cascadedesigns.com/MSR/FAQ/Snowshoes

[t.darrah]

REI has the MSR Field Replacement Kit which includes straps.

[Jim Colten]

Miguel,

I'll soak some nylon webbing and leave it out overnight (forecast low temp is -10F). Will report how supple it is or is not tomorrow.

Long ago I made some snowshoe bindings from nylon reinforced neoprene because it does not absorb water. That was true but they're so stiff at winter temps that that it is a pain to use them.

Even if it does not freeze stiff nylon stretches a lot when it absorbs water … not a good attribute in bindings. You might consider polypropylene webbing (does not absorb water and is lighter too) or dacron webbing which does not stretch when wet (I don't know about absorption)

[Morgan Rucks]

I have a older pair of Atlas shoes with busted straps whats the best way to fix them, I did a ghetto patch job last winter with zip ties and para cord last winter when the snowshoes broke on the first day of a 5 day trip. Atlas so far hasn't been much help. They were rentals so I don't expect them to fix them but selling replacement parts like msr does would be cool. The decking has lots of life left in it and i don't want to buy a new pair.

[Jim Colten]

The wet nylon strap did indeed freeze somewhat stiff. It would still flex though.

However, the part passing thru a ladder buckle would not slide/adjust even with a violent tug. Loosening the buckle and flexing the part of the webbing that had been bent in the buckle helped a lot but buckle still did not operate as smoothly as when not frozen.

I think I'd go with Replacement straps from MSR if you can get them.

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