Customer Reviews

A Trailside Guide: Snowshoeing (Trailside Guides)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The best outdoor guides I've ever read. This book targets the recreational snowshoer who might do strenuous day hikes, but doesn't attempt to be a detailed manual for the fanatic spending a week snow camping. IMHO, the book succeeds admirably in meeting the needs of its target audience. It covers all the basics - gear, clothing, the few elements of technique required for snowshoeing, and safety. The prose is very accessible, the pictures add a lot of warmth to the text, and there's even a chapter on snowshoe running. The author captures the feel of the snowshoes rather well and I often found myself nodding my head in agreement with the tips for climbing, descending and traversing that I had to learn by hard experience. I live in California and usually snowshoe in much warmer weather (mid-30s F) than the northeast or midwest, so the clothing suggestions are way too conservative for me - but that's the only fault I could find with the book.

The best outdoor guides I've ever read. This book targets the recreational snowshoer who might do strenuous day hikes, but doesn't attempt to be a detailed manual for the fanatic spending a week snow camping. IMHO, the book succeeds admirably in meeting the needs of its target audience. It covers all the basics - gear, clothing, the few elements of technique required for snowshoeing, and safety. The prose is very accessible, the pictures add a lot of warmth to the text, and there's even a chapter on snowshoe running. The author captures the feel of the snowshoes rather well and I often found myself nodding my head in agreement with the tips for climbing, descending and traversing that I had to learn by hard experience. I live in California and usually snowshoe in much warmer weather (mid-30s F) than the northeast or midwest, so the clothing suggestions are way too conservative for me - but that's the only fault I could find with the book.

You can lump most of the newer snowshoe books together, and they are, ho hum, all about the same, that is not very good. They seem to be written by people that claim to be experts about everything to do with the outdoors, but I am not impressed with their knowledge of snowshoes or snowshoeing. "Hey everybody, lets go out and spend $300 on little dinky plastic and aluminum snowshoes, because it is THE thing to do", seems to be the battle cry of all these people. They always fill their books with lots of pictures of people climbing mountains, in attempt to impress us I guess. This is really impractical for a beginner, who is the real targeted audience for these books. The exception to this is the snowshoe book, "The Essential Snowshoer" recently written by Zwosta and even better the oldie "The Snowshoe Book" by Osgood and Hurley. These are better books, that explain the sport better, both past and present.

This book takes you through the history of the snowshoe both past and current. Other sections concentrate on the different types of equipment needed for wintery travel and camping. If you know nothing about snowshoeing or winter camping make this your first book.