Trackers Skishoes

One of the most common questions we get about Trackers Skishoes is how do you take them down hills. Can you turn them? Generally, no; most descents are done in straight-ahead fashion without making turns - in fact, we've dubbed it straight-line skiing. In almost all conditions, the width of the skishoes combined with the gliding crampons will slow you on descents and give you more stability as compared with cross-country skiing. This is especially true with crusty snow and powder. Generally, the harder the snow, the more the crampons will slow you, as they actually saw through ice and crust. Powder is inherently slow, so you'll float through that. Many of us dream of skiing in knee-deep powder at downhill ski resorts and live for powder days. Straight-line skiing through powder on skishoes gives you a similar thrill, so now you can dream of that. Five different scenarios exist, depending on the steepness of the terrain and snow conditions. For moderate conditions, which usual...

Exciting news: Trackers Skishoes launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding project on June 28, 2017. We started this to raise funds for producing skishoes for next season and also to build a prototype pair of longer skishoes. Here's a link to the project: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/996727129/trackers-skishoes-combine-skiing-and-snowshoeing Why use crowdfunding instead of more conventional types of funding? It serves a few purposes. For starters, companies can use it as a method of preselling their product. They can determine the quantities and models of products they need to produce and get the money in hand before they start the production process, allowing them to plan for it better. A major reason for using crowdfunding is that it brings together a community of passionate people who support your mission. They not only serve as customers, they can help determine your product line and design and the direction of your company. A crowdfunding project typically offers sever...

  Note: This article appeared in 2014 in the newsletter of the Kick’n Gliders cross-country ski club out of Harrisburg, PA. It details the history of Trackers Skishoes. On various trips in the past, several club members have seen me playing with some funny-looking short, fat skis that looked a bit like snowshoes. Club members have helped in my effort to develop these by trying them and giving me their input and by taking photos of me using them. And because they’re so wide, I’ve been chosen on occasion to break trail after snowfalls as we head out skiing. After pursuing development of these for more years than I care to remember as a hobby, it has now transitioned to more of a serious business. This season, I soft-launched this product, which I’ve dubbed Trackers Skishoes. What does the term soft-launch mean? We haven’t actually begun producing skishoes yet, mainly because doing so requires an investment of over $50,000 for injection molding equipment. Rather, we’re ...