MSR Sucks

Well, not all of MSR's products suck. Their stoves are amazing. But their snowshoes are for crap. I've never had any piece of mountaineering gear fail as consistently as MSR's snowshoes. The plastic construction itself isn't bad; and it makes for a very light-weight snowshoe. It's the bindings - the device that attaches one's boot to the snowshoe. These rubber straps have twice now ripped apart while I was tightening them. One doesn't "glide" lightly across the snow when hauling a ton of gear. Having a snowshoe fail completely would seriously suck. Fortunately, I've only had a single binding strap fail per trip. Snowshoes need to just work - like everything else.

Then I discovered Tubbs and Atlas. They both make amazing snowshoes. In particular, their bindings take only seconds to tighten (and loosen); and it requires almost no effort. In either case, these snowshoes can be attached and ready-to-go in a quarter the time of the MSR variety.

I ultimately chose a Tubbs snowshoes. The binding does have a rubber strap for the heel, but the heel strap was never the problem for me. The rest of the binding is a thick nylon (?) strap that can be cinched down in one movement; and released in one movement. It's a thing of beauty - and simplicity. And, unfortunately, it's "break in" period is going to be on Denali.