Last weekend, after months of planning, I went on a snowshoeing trip with my buddies Dane and Tyler. We planned our route, purchase some new gear, and drove the 5 and a half hours (good ole LA traffic, should have been a 4 hour drive) up to the Sequoia National Forest. We arrived to a 25 degree evening with a 6 foot base of snow. Perfect conditions for snowshoeing.
After hitting the trailhead we strapped on our snowshoes (one pair rented from Valencia Sport Chalet, two pair from the Beverly Hills shop) and began our 4 mile hike. With about 2000 feet of elevation gain ahead of us and a late-ish start we needed to keep a good pace. After about ten steps Tyler noticed that his snowshoes were not behaving like Dane's. As you can see from the picture the metal failed and the nylon base pulled out of its rivet. Needless to say that Tyler could not go on with these shoes.
Sport Chalet has attempted to make it right by giving us the rental free (a no brainer) and offering 30% off of a future snowshoe purchase. So now the three of us might end up owning the same pair of shoes (MSR Denalis or MSR Denali Ascents) that failed on us. We haven't made a decision yet but it looks like I will soon own a pair of snowshoes. At least then I can guarantee that they will be kept in good condition.
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