With a background in New York as a judge, Robert Hamley leads Forever Flowers and provides clients around the globe with a trademarked floral preservative kit. An outdoor enthusiast, Robert Hamley enjoys activities such as hiking, skiing, and snowshoeing in his free time.
With roots as an essential means of winter transport in isolated snowbound communities, snowshoeing is now a popular activity that provides an aerobic, low impact exercise and is ideal for exploring nature in the winter.
Inexpensive and simple to learn, snowshoeing allows the hiker to maintain a natural stride. One slight adjustment that those with a narrow gait need to make involves widening the stance, so as not to step on the other shoe’s frame.
Those who are active runners and move at a fast pace may want to select racing or fitness snowshoes that have a narrow design and lightweight aluminum frame. Those who prefer a more leisurely pace can stick with traditional wooden snowshoes, which tend to have a wider surface area.
Wooden snowshoes are also preferable to aluminum when it comes to carrying heavy loads or traversing lengthy distances on backcountry trails that have a fresh blanket of snow. Blending in more with the environment, they are significantly quieter, which can be an asset when interacting with wildlife in the vicinity. The wooden decking is additionally designed to withstand extremely cold temperatures, as low as 30 degrees Fahrenheit below zero.
Whatever the shoe type, the exertion involved snowshoeing is significant, as it burns nearly 50 percent more calories than walking or running at a similar pace.
Robert Hamley 