This is a review for the snowshoeing tour we took - it originated at Golden Peak lodge. We had a private tour with 4 ladies and our tour guide Joe.
The first thing he did was get us in some boots - these are specific boots that fit the snowshoes better and they are also super warm and cushy, which is important. Then we grabbed our shoes, our poles, and hopped in his van for a short 20 minute ride to the base of a mountain to start hiking it up!
We stopped at the bottom to put on our shoes and it took a while as we were newbies and had no idea how to strap them on. These are newer snowshoes that have metal spike things on the bottom to help climb. Thank goodness, I thought we'd be on those tennis racquet looking shoes (he said those are so 80s haha).
I consider myself to be in average shape - I work out 3 to 4 times a week fairly regularly but I also party like a rock star a lot too. Plus, the high elevation makes this southerner huff and puff like a couch potato. So I was hoping he'd go at a more reasonable pace and thankfully he did. There were some steep parts and he would stop periodically and tell us information about the trees or the area or the park or whatever and let us take a break. Plus he brought water for everyone and we definitely needed it. By the time we got to the highest point I was sweating like I was in 90 degree weather and stripping off layers left and right. It even snowed during our tour a little bit which was a bit like Christmas in March. Yay! Our tour lasted a good 2 or 3 hours and by the end we were all ready to come back but felt like we had gotten to see some mountain without having to do pesky things like ski. Plus it was an awesome workout - made me ready for some apres ski action immediately upon our return!
I definitely recommend doing a snowshoe tour. I thought I would hate it, but it turned out I absolutely enjoyed it..despite, or perhaps because of, all the effort it took. I think I even enjoyed it more than snowmobiling and I never thought that would be the case. read more