If the weights were equal, I’m not sure how ankle weights could injure you in a way that snowshoes could not. With MSR EVOs, I think I’m a little under 2# per foot. That’s not much. It’s not like I’d add 20# ankle weights. Personally, I think the high stepping and slightly wider gait of snowshoes is where the awkwardness comes from, not the weight so much. But over thousands of repetitions, it has to be a factor.
Sure, I think someone can throw on a pair of snowshoes and do well enough with basic fitness on an average hike. But doing an event where the cumulative miles are high, bailing is not an option, other people are depending on you, and you don’t want to fall behind the group pace is another story.
Perhaps it sounds like I’m overthinking things but in my experience doing distance cycling and smaller ultramarathon stuff on foot, IMO specificity is very important in training. When I was training to ride the Furnace Creek 508 I made sure to get in plenty of hot weather miles, and not months out from the event, but as close to it as possible. When training for the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim in a day, I focused on vertical gain before tapering. Likewise, for the LA Marathon, I didn’t worry about running hills much; it’s a pretty flat course.. I certainly wouldn’t go into a triathlon saying “hey, I can swim, and I’m fit, so it won’t matter if I don’t swim for three months prior to the race.” That would be a recipe for disaster IMO. Could you squeak by? Maybe. But that’s not how you want to go into a big event, physically or mentally.
I’m in a similar situation here. Again, perhaps I’m overthinking it a bit, but experience tells me to train specificity as long as possible before something big. Snowshoeing for the next month and then putting them away for two months prior to a hike doesn’t sit well with me. In my experience, snowshoeing is different than hiking, at least enough so that I want to be specific. So while snowshoeing sand dunes in May might sound silly, in my mind it’s about maintaining a degree of specificity wherever possible.
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