Pretty Awesome

By James C Watts Ranked #4 - Backcountry Snowboarding November 7, 2008

I have the Atlas 1230s, and have put them through a couple of decent seasons now with no complaints or problems. They give me plenty of flotation even with a heavy winter pack on (total weight: ~210 lbs), and the bindings are perfect. Easy to put on and adjust, totally secure, and they don't twist around at all, which keeps the snowshoe tracking straight without excessive effort. Plus, the coated nylon straps don't freeze and are pretty easy to manage even when covered with the ice and snow of a long day's walk. These shoes are larger and heavier in the pack than the newer style mono-frame shoes (MSR Ascent), but in my opinion provide much better performance with less fatigue during use (probably due in large part to the "springy" binding system) and much better flotation in deep powder. In other words, if you want to strap some snowshoes to your pack that you might use for a few minutes during a trip, the MSR (or comparable) is probably a better choice, but if you know you're going to be on your snowshoes all day and through all terrain, you can't go wrong with the Atlas 12. It's the Cadillac of snowshoes.

View Details: Atlas 12 Series Snowshoe

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