Komperdell Mountaineer Snowshoes - 27"

1st time out and the rubber piece on heal strap broke....I would return but it doesn't seem like STP has a replacement pair... Very disappointed

I bought these a few months ago as I was new to snowshoeing and didn't want to drop a lot of money without knowing if I'd like it. Well, I'm glad I got these for cheap because the snowshoes ARE cheap. I've run into several problems with these. Perhaps the most annoying problem is the ice that builds up between the heel of your boot and the snowshoe underneath, which causes your foot to slide around. After a few hours of this, your ankle and knee will not be happy. On a couple trips, huge clumps of snow built up in the crampon section so it's like walking on gigantic snowballs. Neither the ice or clumps of snow are easy to knock off the snowshoe. I've used these probably seven times or so, and already the rubbery part of the binding that goes around the heel is ripped on one of them. The heel bindings are terrible; difficult to tighten and loosen, which means they'll come off easily. I also don't really see how these are mountaineering snowshoes since they don't have a lot of traction compared to MSR snowshoes, which have much better side traction. On a steep slope of snow, you probably won't feel comfortable in these. I know I don't! I am glad I didn't spend more money on these. I will definitely be upgrading next season.

My new Komperdell snowshoes are a great addition to my winter activity equipment. I went on my first hike on both groomed and ungroomed trails last weekend and I cut the path for the rest of us. The bindings were a little more complicated than I was used to, but I quickly figured them out and compared to others, they worked really well. They never came loose. The materials are light (4 lbs) total but sturdy. I was very happy with my purchase and I can't wait to go into the real back country in a few weeks.

This is the first set of snowshoes I bought. I wanted a good paid without breaking my budget and this one fit well into the budget. Getting in and out of the shoes are not too difficult, but I had trouble with the extra strap after tightening it down. Had to tuck them in or fasten them to my boots to prevent stepping on them. My first outing I kept tripping due to the front claws being longer than other snowshoes I rented so it kept grabbing the packed snow. However, they help up well and kept me wanting to keep trying this sport.

I'm not, nor do I intend to be, regularly snowshoeing. Functionality on these seemed to be just fine. The binding over the toe was fairly easy to get nice and snug, but the heal portion did seem to take some extra work. One shoe did slip off due to the heal strap slipping off after seeming fine for most of the day. Their construction seems adequate and I feel they were worth the money.