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Long Term Report - MSR Lightning Snowshoes
by Mike Lipay - May 24, 2006
| Description |
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| Date Arrived | January 17, 2006 |
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| Manufacturer | MSR (Mountain Safety Research) |
| Year of Manufacturer | 2005 |
| Website | http://www.msrcorp.com/ |
| MSRP | $219.95 USD |
| Warranty | MSR Snowshoes are guaranteed against defects in materials and workmanship without time limit. Return shipping charges to the consumer for repaired products are covered. Should a product be found defective under this warranty, we will repair it or replace it at our option. (website). |
Mfgr. Specs
from website |
Model: 35123
Dimensions: 8 x 30 in. (20 x 64 cm)
Weight: 3 lbs. 5 oz. (1504 g) per pair
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Personal
measurements |
Model: 35123
Dimensions: 8 x 30-3/4 in. (20 x 78 cm)
Weight: 3 lbs. 13 oz. (1720 g) per pair
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| Personal Information |
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| Name | Mike Lipay |
| Age | 51 |
| Gender | Male |
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (173 cm) |
| Weight | 185 lbs (83.9 kg) |
| Email | hiking AT westernpa DOT us |
| City, State | Plum, Pennsylvania |
| Background | I've been hiking and backpacking with the Boy Scouts since the '60s, although currently I hike more solo, with my kids, or as a trail guide for a local outdoors group. I am no ultra-light backpacker; my pack (external frame) weighs 29-40 lbs (13-18 kgs) loaded (not including food), though I am always on the look out for ways to cut down on the weight. I'm a low-techie, preferring a hiking staff to trekking poles, compass to GPS, fire to fuel; but I do carry some techie stuff as well, recently switching over to a digital camera from film, and an UV sterilizer from a filter pump. |
| Additional Bio |
I have never used snowshoes, though I hike regularly in the winter and the snow my trips have always been in winter boots. The reports submitted will reflect the viewpoint of one just learning to use snowshoes, and as such may be a bit less technical than one who is more experienced. |
| Special Note |
Thanks to an unseasonably warm winter in the northeast (due, I am told, to the El Nino conditions in the Pacific) there has been no opportunity for additional testing after the end of March. While there have been snow storms and cold temps, neither lasted long enough to build up on what remained after my last field test. Because of this, my report will be based upon usage through the end of March, along with observations made when preparing the snowshoes for storage. I will also cover each of concerns raised in the Long Term and Field reports in more detail. |
| Ease of attachment and removal as the level of snow varies |
The pair of Lightning Snowshoes which I tested attached easily barehanded, but I did have difficulty making the attachment, especially the right boot. There are two reasons for the difficulty:
- The strap on the right boot did not overlap the boot as far as the strap on the left boot. I have not been able to determine the reason, the straps are of equal length and both begin on the third hole. The difference is significant enough so that the Lightning Snowshoes do not work with my high-top snow boots, a pair of Sorel Badgers. I have tried moving the straps to the second hole, but there is not enough strap remaining to stay in place during ascents. If the straps were an additional 3-4 holes long they would have fit perfectly.
- Getting the strap into the pins, with gloves on, was difficult on both snowshoes. I was able to pass it through the hook easily, but catching it on the pin was difficult. A trip to my local outfitter, who carries the MSR Lightning Snowshoes, discovered the reason: the pins were not bent out as far as those at the outfitter. After it was clear that I would have no further opportunity to test them in the field I made the modifications (bending the pins out about 5°) and tried them at home, I was able to catch the strap on the pins with ease, even with gloved hands.
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| How well they will attach to standard boots |
For the most part I found that the MSR Lightning snowshoes would work with any boots. The only exception, as I mentioned above, was with my Sorel Badger snow boots, and here the problem is related to the length of the upper straps, with 3-4 more holes on the strap there would be no problem with the fit. |
| How easy is it to learn how to walk in snowshoes? |
Amazingly easy! I caught onto using the Lightning snowshoes in little time. Walking is pretty much as normal, the only real exceptions are keeping my feet a little further apart and taking care during tight turns to make sure that I didn't step on one snowshoe with the other. This latter part proved to be the more difficult in my area, where trails tend to be narrow and switchbacks plentiful. After a few face-falls I caught onto the skill. |
| How do they work when the snow disappears and the mud replaces it? |
Not well, and honestly they aren't made for this, unlike less aggressive snowshoes. The teeth in the rims dug into the mud and didn't want to release their grip. I found it better to remove the snowshoes when the snow level was less than 6 in (15 cm). My partners snowshoes (aluminum tube frames) did not have this problem, but then again they did not have quite the traction in the snow that I did, and that is the purpose of snowshoes. Had this been closer to a typical winter the mud would not have been an issue; but, with the warmer weather and lower snow amounts, thin snow layers were more abundant. |
| The Laurel Ridge (where I do most of my hiking) is notable for it's rocky terrain, what kind of footing will I have with rocks under the snow? |
Again, I would not normally encounter these conditions, but thanks to the warmer weather the rocks were out in full force, just a few inches under the snow. While walking didn't prove to be an issue (just enough snow on top to level things out) the rocks did take their toll on the frames. By the end of the season there was noticeable scratches in the frames, and some of the teeth did show a little more flattening than others. A quick application of a file at the start of next season will take area of the problem and return the Lightning snowshoes to their original condition. |
| Signs of wear |
An end-of-season examination of the MSR Lightning Snowshoes shows the following:
- Wearing of some of the teeth along the frame; as mentioned above, I feel this is due to the unusual amount of rocks that I encountered due to the low snow levels
- Scratches on the bottom of the rubber; again, probably due to the low snow levels, walking on more unseen roots and twigs than would normally be the case.
- Rust. Now this was unexpected. While just minor amounts were visible this bothered me. After each trip I was careful to dry off the snowshoes. The rust appears on the tops of the teeth on the frame, and at the pivot point on the center teeth. The rust isn't much, and a little cleaning and waxing should keep it in check while in storage. Rust goes along with steel, and the frames on the MSR Lightning are made of steel, so a little more care and attention needs to be paid at the end of a day's hiking to dry the metal parts, and probably coat them with wax or a penetrating oil, should be enough to prevent the rust from occurring.
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| Conclusions/Observations |
I have been please with the performance of the MSR Lightning snowshoes, both on snow and on ice. As covered in my Field Report, I had a couple occasions where I had to cross frozen streams, and the teeth on the snowshoes gave enough bite to keep me from slipping. My partners (with their tube-framed snowshoes) found that they had to remove the shoes during crossings to keep from sliding on the ice.
Walking through, or on top of, the snow is an odd experience, especially when my staff dropped 4 feet (1.2 m) into the snow that I was walking on top of. The heavy-packed snow in this area, combined with the Lightning snowshoes, kept me from sinking more than a few inches into the snow. I really had no idea how deep the snow was in some areas without shoving my staff into it - as I said, a really odd feeling.
The straps performed much better than I had expected, staying flexible and stretchy even in sub-zero temperatures (lowest was -5F, -20C). Only two real issues existed:
- The right snowshoe strap seemed shorter than the left, and neither was enough to stretch over my Sorel snow boots.
- The attachment pins on both were not bent out as far as they should be.
All-in-all, I am very please with the quality and performance of the MSR Lightning snowshoes, and have only one recommendation to make, that the upper straps be made a couple notches longer than they are to better accommodate the use of larger boots.
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I would like to express my thank, both to MSR and to BackpackGearTester, for the opportunity to test the Lightning snowshoes.
Read more reviews of MSR gear
Read more gear reviews by Mike Lipay
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