Your Guide to Paraglide Snowshoe Bindings

Meet the Paraglide™, our newest snowshoe binding featured on all Trail series snowshoes: Evo, Revo, and Lightning. (Pro tip: if our site is out of stock, use the Find In Store or Find Online buttons on the product page to see MSR retailers with inventory.) Based on the materials and design principles of the award-winning Paragon binding (found on Ascent series snowshoes), the Paraglide was designed to be easy to use and incredibly comfortable for newer snowshoers while still providing a secure fit and high-quality performance. Using the Paraglide Snowshoe Bindings To put on the Paraglide snowshoe binding, simply pull the outside strap forward over your foot. Then tighten and secure the rear strap. Roller buckles make tightening the straps easy and intuitive by holding them in place without slippage….

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What Makes the MSR® Evo™ Snowshoe the Best Snowshoe?

You may not think about it when you strap your foot to a pair of brand new MSR Evo Snowshoes, but you’re stepping into a legendary technology that changed snowshoeing forever. And sure – lots of companies say stuff like that about everything from razors to garden widgets, but like so many MSR innovations over the years, there’s no hyperbole in calling the world’s first solid platform snowshoe a legit game changer. The History Bill Forrest was a prolific climber, inventor and no stranger to bringing game-changing ideas to life. By the time Bill passed in 2012 at the age of 73 (while doing what he loved–snowshoeing) he had left us with major contributions to the evolution of rock and ice climbing equipment and a few really bad-ass climbing achievements,…

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Field Testing MSR Snowshoes in Switzerland

Designing gear can’t happen in a cubicle. Sure, there’s a lot of computer work that goes into creating CAD drawings and engineering specs, but the real solutions—the big ideas—come from the field. Chris Barchet, category director for MSR Water & Winter products, is a perpetual field tester. He recently headed to the Andermatt region of Switzerland on a snowshoe R&D trip to reacquaint himself with the terrain and chat with mountain guides and users to find out what works best for them. Here’s a quick look at one of the many professional recon missions Chris takes in the world’s most incredible places.

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Day in the Life: MSR Revo Explore Snowshoes

Winter weather is here and in many places snow has already blanketed the local hills. Here’s a dose of inspiration to get you excited for the snowshoeing season. Whether your mission this year is to complete a backcountry camping trip, a hut-to-hut, or simply enjoy many days of fun winter adventure and hiking, MSR snowshoes are engineered to back you up with confidence behind every step.

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SnowSchool Turns Students into Snow Scientists

By Kerry McClay, National SnowSchool Director for Winter Wildlands Alliance “So the snowpack is only about 20% water?!”  It’s a bluebird day at Bogus Basin Mountain Recreation Area in the Boise National Forest, and a group of students from the local high school are standing in a 5 ft deep snow trench they’ve dug themselves. Marching out into the forest on snowshoes they’ve used depth probes, density cutters and spring scales to measure snow-water equivalent (the estimated water content of the snowpack), and are discussing their findings with a snow science graduate student from the nearby university. The low water content of the snowpack is coming as a surprise to a few of them. Later these students will analyze snow crystals with macroscopes, cut snow blocks to make an igloo,…

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Eric Larsen’s Last North Expedition (Day 47): Bears, Mental Struggle, and the Fierce Beauty of the Arctic

 “I couldn’t decide if the Arctic Ocean was trying to swallow us whole or create the worst road block in history. It’s frustrating, scary and overwhelming all wrapped up into one big polar mess of emotions… Still there are few moments when I am not completely in awe of the beauty and power of this place.” –Eric (Day 32) Eric Larsen and expedition partner Ryan Waters have reached day 47 of their Last North expedition, an attempt to break the unsupported ground speed record to the North Pole. Last week they crossed the 87th parallel, marking a distance milestone that sends them into the final stretch of the 500-mile journey. They have 102 miles to go. The duo is finally making decent distance each day, sometimes reaching 17 miles via skis…

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