T he first time I went snowshoeing, I used traditional wooden snowshoes, on a two-day winter excursion in New Brunswick. I still own that pair, although it’s been years since I’ve worn them. The last several times I wore snowshoes, they were modern aluminum ones.
Although those are the types generally sold in outdoor stores and rented for short-term use, traditional snowshoes are still being made. In fact, they may be experiencing a renaissance.
“I think there is a rebirth in people’s desire to have traditional snowshoes,” says Bern Crawford, a member of the NunatuKavut Inuit in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador. He has been making traditional snowshoes for 40 years.
He started out by repairing his own snowshoes.
“I would disassemble existing snowshoes to salvage babiches (the rawhide, gut or…
