Weekly Trivia #131

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The origin and age of snowshoes are not precisely known, although historians believe they were invented from 4,000 to 6,000 years ago, probably starting in Central Asia. Strabo wrote, around the time of Jesus Christ's birth, that the inhabitants of the Caucasus used to attach flat surfaces of leather under their feet and that the Armenians used round wooden surfaces instead.

Two groups of snowshoe pioneers diverged early on, setting patterns that can still be seen today. One group abandoned the snowshoe as it migrated north to what is now Scandinavia, eventually turning the design into the forerunners of the Nordic ski. The other went northeast, eventually crossing the Bering Strait into North America.

Here, their descendants developed the most advanced and diverse snowshoes prior to European exploration and colonization. Nearly every Native American tribe developed its own particular shape of shoe, the simplest and most primitive being those of the far north.

Snowshoes were slowly adopted by Europeans in what became the United States and Canada, with the French voyageurs well in advance of British settlers. Superior French snowshoeing skill almost turned the French and Indian War, a conflict that saw two engagements named the Battle on Snowshoes, to their favor.

Traditional snowshoes are made of a single strip of some tough wood, usually white ash, curved round and fastened together at the ends and supported in the middle by a light cross-bar, the space within the frame thus made being filled with a close webbing of dressed caribou or neat's-hide strips, leaving a small opening just behind the cross-bar for the toe of the moccasined foot. They are fastened to the moccasin by leather thongs, sometimes by buckles. Such shoes are still made and sold by native peoples.

Modern snowshoes

Outside of indigenous populations, however, very few of the old-fashioned snowshoes are actually used by enthusiasts anymore, although some value them for the artisanship involved in their construction. They are most commonly seen as decorations, mounted on walls, or on mantels, in ski lodges.

Snowshoes today are divided into three types: aerobic/running (small and light; not intended for backcountry use); recreational (a bit larger; meant for use in gentle to moderate walks of 3-5 miles (5-8 km) at a time) and mountaineering (the largest, meant for serious hill-climbing, long-distance trips and off-trail use). Sizes are often given in inches, even though snowshoes are nowhere near perfectly rectangular. Mountaineering shoes can be at least 30 inches (76 cm) long by 10 inches (25 cm) wide; a lighter pair of racing shoes can be slightly narrower and 25 inches (64 cm) or shorter.

Regardless of configuration, all wooden shoes are referred to as "traditional" and all shoes made of other materials are called "modern."

While snowshoe racing has probably been around as long as there have been snowshoes, as an organized sport it is relatively new. The United States Snowshoe Association was founded in 1977 to serve as a governing body for competitive snowshoeing. It is headquartered in Corinth, New York, which considers itself the "Snowshoe Capital of the World" as a result. Similar organizations, such as the European Snowshoe Committee and Japan's Chikyu Network, exist in other countries and there is an international competitive level as well.

Snowshoe races are part of the Arctic Winter Games and the winter Special Olympics. However, they are not yet an Olympic event.