01/19/02 - Snowshoe Testing - Snoqualmie Pass

Per www.mountaineers.org: "If you are still waiting to be introduced to the world of snowshoeing, then Saturday, Jan. 19 at The Mountaineers Snoqualmie Lodge is your big chance.  Mountaineers leaders will be conducting short trips for those wanting to try on some of the many 'demo' snowshoes that will be available during the annual Winter Trails Day at Snoqualmie Summit.  The free event will begin at 9 a.m. at the Mountaineers lodge."

Diane, Frank, Sue, and David threw caution to the wind and headed up to Snoqualmie Pass in Diane's still sort of new SUV

with 2 thermoses of homemade Black Bean soup and a bag of chips and Frank at the wheel, to try snowshoeing.  After an inordinate amount of time spent sitting in traffic on I-90, we finally spent an inordinate amount of time sitting in traffic on the off ramp, after which we took a wrong turn and eventually found the Mountaineer's Lodge.  There were 6 or 8 snowshoe vendors set up with an assortment of snowshoes to try, and try them we did.  From about noon till 3:45 we slipped and slid and pretty much decided which ones we liked:

Diane - Atlas

Frank and Sue - Atlas or MSR

David - MSR

Having decided that enough was enough, and given the rapidly worsening weather, we headed back to civilization, but not before David found a very wet and dirty wadded up $8.00 in folding money in the middle of the road.  We headed to the QFC in North Bend while the bills dried, and squandered our new-found wealth on a round of hot beverages, then spent yet another inordinate amount of time sitting in traffic in Issaquah trying to get off of I-90.

Update: Sue and David stopped in at the Redmond REI on the way home from work (ugh) on Thursday and splurged on 2 pairs of the MSR snowshoes, and David got a new pack for the Mt. Hood trip:

Although it looks rather blue-ish in the photo, it is actually a dynamic and colorful mix of light and dark grey.