Traction devices for your boots make winter trekking easier

Up on the mountain this week, one of those “moments of clarity” hit people across snow country. What they saw was like looking into a crystal ball and seeing their future.

With clear weather, plenty of snow and a firm snow surface, all of the stellar trailheads were popular destinations with snowshoers. For many, the exhilaration was pure ecstasy: their first snowshoe romp in years after enduring the California drought.

At the Castle Peak Trailhead along Interstate 80, across the road from Boreal (near Donner Pass), every parking space was taken, and the overflow crowd ended up using the Boreal lot to park. There were a lot of folks on the trail, with smiles all around and the sound of “clomp-clomp-clomp” as those in snowshoes made their way up the hill.

Then a fellow showed up — no snowshoes — who just walked right up the mountain with ease. No slips, no struggles. A look at his feet showed he was wearing his normal hiking shoes. A closer look showed a single Velcro strap over the top of each shoe. On top of the straps, it said “Yaktrax.” The guy just smiled as he sailed along, almost like he was on a magic carpet ride as he passed those clomping away in snowshoes.

That was the moment of clarity: Anybody who was grinding away with snowshoes, especially the giant ones, wanted to get a pair of Yaktrax right then.

Why they work…

 

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