New Winter Sport That Really Isn’t So New
Over the past several years, a seemingly new winter sport has emerged that combines skiing and snowshoeing. It has gained traction (literally) as snowshoes have become more popular and high tech over the last 20 years. It has no official name, so many of us just call it skishoeing. Some of us label the instruments sliding snowshoes or hybrids. But skishoeing is actually not that new, as a search through patents reveals that inventors have been coming up with myriad designs for many decades. Independent souls have tried to commercialize them along with a few major players. No trade group for skishoeing exists, maybe because no standard design exists like with skis or snowshoes. Indeed, all skishoes currently out there are different. Some are more like skis, while others are more like snowshoes. They all basically grip while climbing, then glide on flats and coming downhill with varying amounts of turning ability. With a wide platform, they have more flotation for handling p