Snowshoes

Traveling through snow-covered landscapes with no trodden paths is difficult and often impossible. Back in the day, people used home-made skis and, more often than that, snowshoes, which were easier to make and use and therefore more widespread. Snowshoes are an aid that facilitates walking in deep and soft snow. Most of them are oval in shape, but in some the front part is pointed and curved upwards. In some places, they were knitted from clematis or straw and tied with thin wooden strips; elsewhere they were made entirely of wood and rope, with leather straps to secure them to the shoe.

The snowshoes in the photograph are made of beech wood, and originate from Trenta. They have been kept at the Tolmin Museum since 1966.