adding cleats/traction to snowshoes

Is the challenge hard packed snow, but soft enough to dent by a protrusion, or

icy conditions, requiring some sort of pointy things?

probably more concerned with icy conditions, but even very hard packed/windpacked snow can be slick w/o any bite

the shoes have decent instep traction, but other than that they are completely smooth around the entire frame

How about using those clamps used to attach electrical conduit or pipes to walls etc. If you find a clamp that fits the size of your snowshoes frame tubes, basically the the tube would be encased by the clamp with the bolts that tighten the clamp sticking into the snow. You can probably change the length of the bolts to accommodate the degree of traction you want. That way your mod is not permanent and also allows you to tweak it at will (adding more or less traction points, changing the length of the spikes (bolts), etc.)

The attached image is for a "ground clamp". Probably you can find something lighter but this illustrates the concept.

yeah- those might just work :) thanks

also when searching for conduit clamps, came across this image- pipe clamp, rubber lined so it should be less prone to spin

could this idea be adapted to meet your needs?

^ yes that could work too :) looks like he did some really nice work w/ that setup!