They make 40,000 pairs of shoes every year, and not one of them would you wear to a cocktail party, the grocery store or yoga class. Some Canadians, however, do wear them to work.
GV Snowshoes, based in Wendake, QC, sells most of its models to winter enthusiasts looking for some gentle fun in the snow. There’s even a special model for competitive runners. But other buyers need snowshoes on the job, including Hydro Quebec workers maintaining power lines, maple-syrup producers tapping trees, Canadian Forces soldiers on patrol and fur trappers working their traplines. “Trappers prefer the traditional wooden pairs,” explains Ilka Tarin, GV Snowshoes sales and marketing director, “because they need a silent snowshoe. Hydro workers need to be able to walk backwards, so we designed an aluminum model to allow that. The magnesium ones we make exclusively for the Canadian Forces are not even sold to novices. They’re very heavy duty, with a harness to fit the big boots.”
After snowball fights and fort building, snowshoeing is easily Canada’s most affordable and accessible family sport. Match your weight to the size of the snowshoe, strap ‘em on and off you go… to the North Pole, perhaps? Last year, adventurers Conrad Dickinson, 50 (ex-British Army), and Québecker Richard Weber, 46 (he operates Arctic Watch Wilderness Lodge on Somerset Island, NU), wore GV Snowshoes on their record-breaking, unassisted, 52-day, 12-hour trek to the North Pole.
“No skis, no dry suits for crossing open water leads, just a pair of snowshoes, making us the first to try this way of getting to the North Pole,” the pair reported in their final April 2006 dispatch. “The old guys have done it.”
www.gvsnowshoes.com www.northpoleclassic.com www.CanadianArcticHolidays.ca