MYOG snowshoes in 2003

that's a HDPE deck with aluminum angle rails? Cutting those theeth would have driven me to buy some power tools, if I didn't already have suitable ones!

Looks nice, though, and clearly they work. Light's nice, functional is essential. Were you to try it again now, what would you do differently? (I know essentially nothing about snowshoes, I've only used them once.)

@ David

Thanks for that! :-) Yeah, it's HDPE plastic with Aluminium angle for rails. We were meant to use power tools to make them, however my mate left them at his house…and the drive back was over an hour away…so we started with the hack saw.

They worked. The flex in the plastic, along with the softness of the aluminium caused the aluminium rails to crack at the bottom of the teeth – this occurred at the point of greatest flex, next to the aluminium cross bar. The cracks worked their way down to the right angle, but it was no biggy for me….they worked when needed.

I'm really not sure what I'd do next time…I vowed to never strap these heavy contraptions on to my pack again (they would now contribute to nearly two thirds of my overall base pack weight).

To me, MYOG snow shoes would have to be a passion – they are an item that is exposed to extreme forces, extreme conditions, and need to rate 10/10 for reliability and functionality, otherwise they would be dangerous and a wasted exercise. So, on that note, I probably wouldn't do it again due to the cost and time required to master this product.

Jason

They look functional if not totally practical due to the weight. To reduce weight perhaps sections of the solid plate could be replaced with a wire mesh or even just cut out.

I have snowshoed on Mt Bogong – great fun!