[pct-l] Snow Shoes vs. Timing for snow on a thru

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

On Oct 25, 2010, at 9:06 PM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>
> Someone wrote about hiking in Chaco's.

That was me. They don't work in the snow. The snow accumulates under  
your toes making it hard to walk. Every few steps I had to shake the  
snow out. Chacos also have piss-poor traction on snow or anything. I  
have been thinking of having them resoled at the cobbler to put a  
real sole on. Chaco USA will just put the same sole on.

> I haven't tried them, but we have
> gravitated toward simpler and lighter shoes. Our current shoe  
> preferences
> have almost no support. They are a slab of foam with some mesh to  
> hold it
> under the foot. They're very light, and our feet are stronger and  
> ache less.

What shoes are these?

I have been moving toward simpler shoes, too. First I switched from  
leather boots to light canvas boots. Then from high tops to low tops.  
The switch to low tops was miraculous for me. I have ankles like tree  
stumps and finally I could USE them! Then I made a mistake and bought  
motion control shoes on the trail and broke my feet completely and  
had to get off. So I made sure after that to get shoes that were  
flexible. Still wasn't quite enough because all the heel rise and  
especially that crater your forefoot falls into caused pain. Not to  
mention that they just don't make shoes shaped like a real foot.  
Chacos have a huge arch bump which can bother me, but otherwise are  
pretty simple. Hopefully I will be able to make something that works  
for me. It's pretty much come to that, I'm afraid.