Snowshoe technology reaches back thousands of years and across the globe. However, in recent years, it’s made history right here in the Pacific Northwest, and MSR® has a lot to do with it. Take a look and see how our MSR Denali™ and Lightning™ snowshoe models helped usher in a new era of snowshoe innovations and design.

Photo by Peter Mathis

The Design Revolution

The modern snowshoe looks very different from the traditional hardwood and rawhide designs of old. The shift to new materials—aluminum and plastic—in the 1970s allowed for smaller, lighter and more durable frames. Other innovations soon followed: suspension binding systems increased the snowshoe’s efficiency, making it possible to traverse long distances in rough and mountainous terrain, while integrated cleats helped cut through ice and crusty snow. Just as revolutionary, however, were innovations introduced by MSR, including injection-molded plastic decks, modular flotation and 360-degree traction.

The story of innovation begins with a meeting of the minds between MSR and big-wall climber and mountaineer Bill Forrest (1939-2012). Known as much for his climbing inventions—from harness leg loops and ice anchors to the daisy chain—as for his climbing feats, Bill devised a concept for a technical snowshoe that addressed a weakness in the market at the time: the snowshoe’s limited traction. The standard frame design featured aluminum tubular frames that tended to slide in the snow, with only crampons at the center for traction. Bill, who would always say “Tubes don’t cut it,” decided to make something better.

Bill created a molded, modular snowshoe prototype and brought it to the Winter Outdoor Retailer tradeshow in the early 90's, where MSR President Dave Bartholomew recognized the concept’s potential. Shortly after, MSR would buy the rights and hire Bill as a product designer. His concept, matched with MSR’s manufacturing knowledge and ethos of designing functional, simple and reliable gear, would eventually result in a design that would forever change snowshoe design.

The Denali: The First Injection-molded Snowshoe

It was 1995 when MSR launched the Denali snowshoe, and all MSR snowshoes have been manufactured in-house ever since. Featuring the first-ever injection-molded polypropylene deck, the patented design integrated the snowshoe deck with the frame for superior traction and durability. It allowed traction-enhancing elements to be directly molded into the snowshoe itself, while two riveted-on traction bars with martensitic stainless-steel teeth offered “terrain-devouring” lateral traction. In addition, the edges of the snowshoe were now flat, eliminating the side-slipping of tubular aluminum. The result was unprecedented traction, with never-before-seen security while traversing on a slope.

The original Denali Classic snowshoe featured a wider deck than a similar but more streamlined Denali Evo™ snowshoe, which was introduced in 2004 with a narrower design for greater efficiency.

Both game-changing designs included Modular Flotation tails—small and lightweight attachment options that added surface area to the frame for increased flotation in deeper snow and packed away easily when not needed. They also featured a Televator™ heel lift that saved energy and reduced calf fatigue on steeper climbs. Both innovations would inform future MSR designs and become hallmarks of MSR's finest snowshoes.

The Lightning: Ultralight, 360° Traction

The Denali snowshoe signaled a revolution in snowshoe design, and a decade later, the MSR Lightning™ snowshoe would turn snowshoe design on it's head once more. By the time the Lightning model was introduced in 2004, the snowshoe had undergone nearly a decade of R&D to realize Bill’s dream of creating an ultralight, all-terrain snowshoe. Obsessed with weight, his belief that “an ounce on the foot is a pound on the back” drove his and MSR’s commitment to the design. 

The resulting snowshoe would replace the tubular aluminum frames of conventional snowshoes with a single, contiguous vertical wall of aluminum. It combined aggressive traction cut directly into the this vertical frame, horizontal traction bars under the heel, and crampons attached to the binding, creating yet another huge leap in traction and performance. With unbeatable traction literally built into every aspect of the snowshoe, a more traditional nylon-reinforced polyurethane deck (a material also used in our MSR Snow Fluke) could be used to further save weight, making the most aggressive snowshoe ever created, one of the lightest, too. 

This combination remains the gold standard for people pushing hard everywhere from  the mountains to the poles.

The Rugged MSR Revo™ Snowshoe

The technologies that went into our Denali and Lightning snowshoes helped make MSR the leader in the snowshoe industry. But there’s always more work to be done, and over the next 10 years, MSR developed other innovative features to improve the snowshoeing experience and make it more enjoyable. The Axis steel crampon was introduced in 2009 on our Lightning Explore models, offering superior gait efficiency by making walking more easy and natural, and in 2014 we took traction and durability further with the release of our MSR Revo snowshoe models.

A bomber all-terrain snowshoe, the Revo evolved the Denali and Evo snowshoes', by moving the traction out to the shoe’s perimeter, just like the Lighting snowshoe. The resulting hybrid, would combine the comfort of a more flexible deck, with the renowned durability of it's predecessors and result in a snowshoe that delivered superior traction for people who desired top notch performance for objectives closer to home. 

The Paragon™ Binding

In 2019, the MSR design team took our knowledge of material science and pushed the paradigm once again with the launch of the new Paragon snowshoe binding.

Offering maximum foot security for adventurers in challenging terrain, the Paragon binding was thoughtfully designed to be so comfortable and natural feeling that the user never notices they're wearing it. The Paragon binding incorporates two intelligent solutions: a single mesh strap and toe stops. The mesh strap offers impressive foot control and a comfortable fit free of pressure points. Toe stops prevent your toes from sliding forward when descending. Both of these features also make the binding easier to put on. Lastly, the Paragon binding is customizable, which means it's compatible with a wide range of boot sizes and styles. Learn more about designing the Paragon binding.

Paradigm™ and Paraglide™ Bindings

The success of the top-tier Paragon Binding drove MSR to create versions that were tuned specifically to the demands of snowshoers who prioritized ease-of-use on less severe terrain.

Photo: The Paradigm Binding, built to span the needs of people exploring steep to moderate terrain.

The Paradigm was designed for those who might occasional find themselves on an alpine summit, but who spend  most of their time at and below treeline on variable terrain. A more forgiving forefoot area adds comfort with lighter footwear, and handy, quick-release cam buckle straps make adjustment super easy, while still offering more than ample control for a wide range of terrain. 

Photo: the Paraglide Binding, built for casual users on gentle and rolling terrain.

The Paraglide binding takes things a step further, with both heel and forefoot adjustment straps using the easy, quick-release cam buckles, and drops to just a single strap across the forefoot. These changes reflect the ease-of-use that casual users prioritize, and the control and comfort they want for the more gentle and rolling terrain they tend to enjoy the most.

A far cry from wood-and-hide snowshoes of old, the high-performance designs of today are reliable, efficient tools for everyone from serious alpinists to everyday explorers. As a company founded on the goal of making reliable, functional and more efficient gear, we’re proud to be a part of the snowshoe revolution and the legacy of innovation that made fresh tracks 20 years ago—when Bill Forrest and MSR came together to reinvent the snowshoe.

Related Posts:

• MSR Snowshoes: Bred in the Mountains, Made in Market
• Perfecting Your Snowshoe Binding Fit
• Choosing the Right Snowshoes for Every Adventure

Updated. Originally Published October 25, 2017.