Reviewer Information

• Name: Cora Hussey
• Age: 23
• Gender: Female
• Height: 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
• Weight: 150 lb (70 kg)
• Email address: cahhmc "at" yahoo "dot" com
• Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
• Date: March 20, 2004

Basic Product Information

• Year of Manufacture: 2004
• URL: http://www.tubbssnowshoes.com/
• Listed weight: 4 lb (1.8 kg)
• Weight as delivered: 2 lb 3 oz (1 kg) per snowshoe, 4 lb 6 oz (2 kg) total
• Version: Pinnacle 25, Standard version supporting 120-200 lb (54-91 kg)
• Listed and Measured Dimensions: Both 8 x 25 in (20 x 64 cm)

Preliminary Information

• Date of arrival: March 19, 2004
• Contents of package (contents were complete):
  • One pair of Tubbs Pinnacle 25 Snowshoes
• Condition upon arrival: Excellent, some cosmetic scratches from the traction plates during shipping
• The snowshoes were easy and intuitive to use out of the box
• The snowshoes were exactly what I expected from the very informative and nicely done Tubbs website

Product Description

General:

The Pinnacles are advertised as day hiking and all terrain snowshoes. They have a plastic deck with tabs which attach to the aluminum frame. They have both forefoot and heel traction plates made of steel attached underneath the decking. The binding is simple and consists of an adjustable heel strap, two plastic flaps which hug either side of the boot, and an adjustable strap which closes the two flaps down around the boot and buckles to tighten and lock in place. The binding attaches to the frame via a bar which runs under the forefoot and straps on either end to the frame. In the words of Tubbs, the advertised qualities of these snowshoes include:

• ArcTec decking material, puncture resistant to -40 F (-40 C)
• Easton 7075-T7 Aluminum frame
• Rotating Toe Cord which allows the binding and boot to rotate
• Bear Hug binding with sturdy outside and conforming foam inner
• Viper stainless steel teeth at forefoot and heel

Binding:

The heel strap is adjustable on both sides where it attaches to the Bear Hug plastic flaps. The over-the-foot strap which connects the Bear Hug plastic flaps around my boot adjusts only on the flap opposite the closure buckle. The closure buckle works by inserting a tab into a slot on the opposite flap, and then closing the buckle to tension and lock in a similar fashion as a ski boot buckle. I will concentrate on this in pictures, since I personally think it is a pretty simple and neat design for a binding. In step one, the strap from the inside flap of the Bear Hug binding is brought toward the other side. You can see little nubs on one side of the red buckle (these fit into the black slot on the opposite flap) and a yellow button on the opposite side of the red buckle (which releases the buckle once it is in place):

You can additionally see some of the qualities of the bindings from the pictures, including the inner foam of the Bear Hug flaps which is soft and supposed to be conforming. The next step is to put the nubs on the red buckle into their slot on the other side of the Bear Hug flap. At this point, the buckle is still not locked (the nubs only sit in the slot). As the buckle descends into locking position, the two flaps of the Bear Hug tension inward:

Finally, the buckle is brought down, which does two things. First, it applies tension to bringing the two Bear Hug flaps together (similar to a ski boot buckle). Second, a catch on the underside of the red buckle slips into another slot on the Bear Hug flap and locks. This is the catch that the yellow button on the end of the red buckle releases. Here is the binding all done up:

You can see that the top strap has ratchet grabs on it for lengthening and shortening the strap on the opposite side. The same is true, as mentioned above, for the heel strap. Here is a side view of the binding. This shows a number of things. First, the Pinnacles have nubs on the plate where the sole of the boot rests. Second, the binding rotates freely around toward the toe. (It would actually rotate all the way around except that the binding does not fit through the front opening). Finally, this picture illustrates the ratchet mechanism for adjusting the straps. The two red buckles (the left one for the top strap, the right one for one side of the heel strap) hold the ratcheted length in place. The straps can be pushed shorter. To lengthen them, I push on the ends of the red buckles where there are small grooves provided. This releases the ratcheted position.

Details and Other Notes:

The snowshoes have asymmetrical lasts on the bottom of the binding where my boot gets placed. This bottom area is longer in the toe for each foot. The front traction Viper plate has four main teeth in the front, and two teeth behind. The rear Viper plate has teeth which are composed of three sub-teeth. The back plate has four such sub-divided teeth, all toward the rear of the heel. The middle of the heel strap has an oval at its middle with a Tubbs logo on the outside and small grippy nubs which rest against the heel on the inside. All of the steel Viper plate teeth came pretty sharp, and were sharp enough to put some cosmetic scratches on the paint of the frame. The decking has a non-slip pad attached under where my heel comes down on it. The binding attaches to the Viper plate and articulation bar underneath via four Phillips-head screws and bolts. The rest of the attachments on the snowshoes (heel Viper plate, strapping of decking to frame) are non-removable rivets. The attachment of the binding itself to the snowshoe is via the articulation bar which is further protected by a plastic cover.

Field Testing Plan

Trip Details:

My testing of the Pinnacles will occur over about six backpacking and day trips in spring snow. The test location will probably mostly be the Sierras of California, although locations change as my outdoor teaching schedule changes. Weather will definitely include snow, and will likely include temperatures ranging from 80 F (27 C) to below freezing. Elevations will range between 5,000 and 11,000 ft (1,500 and 3,000 m), and the trips will be mostly in mountainous terrain. I expect to see mostly spring snow during this testing, however, the Sierras will likely retain a deep snowpack for the next month or two for flotation testing.

Test Plan Details:

I plan to test the following aspects of the Pinnacles by using them on all my trips for the remainder of the snow season in the Sierras.

• Flotation and Maneuverability
  • Since snow is a variable medium, I will test how well the Pinnacles do in varying conditions, from deep rime and slush (and hopefully powder in the early season) to compacted icy snow in tight trees. In the winter, I spend a lot of time off trail with a heavy pack, and so being able to use the snowshoes in tight quarters will be important.
• Comfort
  • I have had all sorts of interesting experiences with snowshoe bindings. Some of them flop around enough to make my feet super tired at the end of the day. Some of them pinch across the forefoot. I will be looking at the effectiveness of the Pinnacles to bind well and comfortably to a variety of footwear, allow my feet to go through a natural stride pattern, and hold easily and comfortably to varying terrain.
• Traction and Support
  • This is similar to comfort, but has more to do with the versatility and usefulness of the Pinnacles. I want to examine what terrain I can safely use these snowshoes on. Side-hilling, cramponing up stiff snow, and tight route finding in trees all stress the ability for a snowshoe to grip both the hill and my feet. I will see how they perform in many different conditions.
• Durability
  • This is probably one of the most important items to test about snowshoes. I will see if I can field maintain and repair them, and whether they can stand up to the usual abuse I dish out to my winter footwear. Also, I will document any care and maintenance they need over the course of the test.

Initial Tests and Personal Observations

As soon as I had the Pinnacles out of the box, I started playing with the binding. Most of what I discovered is mentioned above, but needless to say I was impressed with its simplicity and ease of use. One thing that I was worried about from the website is whether the outside flaps of the binding were indeed flexible enough to bind and conform to a variety of footwear. I continued to be worried as they came out of the box, since the Bear Hug flaps did indeed feel stiff. But then I tried everything from my plastic boots to my approach shoes in the binding, and the Bear Hug flaps conformed surprisingly well. The bindings are not flexible enough to make full contact all along each shoe, but I wiggled my feet around with the shoes on them and the floppy binding factor was absolutely zero. Here is a picture to illustrate how flexible the flaps of the Bear Hug are, despite simultaneously feeling pretty stiff. You can also see that this is the right snowshoe, due to the asymmetrical extension under the toe:

Other than that, there is not much to say. These look like very well thought out snowshoes. I have concentrated on the bindings a lot in this report because they have been my main source of concern and failure on other snowshoes I've used. In addition, comments on items such as articulation, flexibility, and durability will wait until the Pinnacles have some distance put on them. This is not to say that the rest of the Pinnacles do not deserve mention. The ArcTec decking feels sturdy and stiff, traction underfoot exists where I have enjoyed it in the past on other snowshoes, and the overall design is very clean and simple. I look forward to getting these out in some snow!

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Reviews > Snow Gear > Snowshoes > Tubbs Pinnacle Series Snowshoes > Cora Hussey > Initial Report