I will show you how to make your very own pair of emergency snowshoes. Some Homemade snowshoes would be a temp fix (only used once, if that), but these survival snowshoes are pretty sturdy.

I have seen some recent social media posts about shoe chains and tire chains for snow, and figured, HEY it’s winter time! I agree with tire chains, but not shoe chains. That is for ice. You don’t need traction in snow, you need to not sink down a foot or two. Maybe everyone wants to know how to make a showshoe.

The concept that makes a snowshoe work is one of surface area to mass. They work because they damatically raise our surface area. So instead of having 10 pounds per square inch of pressure, we end up with 2 pounds or less.

At this pressure, the snow can hold you.

Recommended tools: Survival Knife, Paracord, folding shovel

You can always use natural vines or roots instead of paracord, but I prefer the cordage.

Find two spruce saplings about 4 feet tall. (They are bendy) If Possible, Pull them up with all roots attached. Cut all of the Boughs off them. You will bend the spruce saplings into a horseshoe and continue to bend them until they make a teardrop pattern. Lash the two ends together very well with the roots, or paracord. There should be a small hole in the center to pull more cordage through later. At the widest part of the newly shaped shoe, lash the paracord tight between the sides, with many passes. Reinforce it by wrapping more cord around it in a coil fashion because this is where your weight support will be. Now wrap another strand of cord around one side of your main support and the sapling wood at that point. Bring up to the center front of the rounded side of the teardrop and lash it taught here, I am using a self tightening coil. Then bring it down to the other side of the main support. It should look like a triangle now, now wrap some loops around the top to tighten it a bit. The loop made at the angled (rear) part of the teardrop shape should have a hole big enough for two strands of cord to be tied to it. Now run them up to the center main support about 5 inches apart and lash them. At this point you should tie 3-4 strands of cord to one side of the forming shoe. These will run side to side, but wind them around the two vertical strands that you just tied as you go across. Tie them to the other side. All ob the spruce boughs that you cut off of the saplings, can now be weaved into the shoe to give much better surface area. There is a way to use just one cord, but I choose to use two. Tie the two on the main support a little more than the width of your shoe, in the middle. Place your foot on the main support. Wrap the cord around the top of your shoe, back down and around the other sides of the support, then back around the back of your shoe and around the front. Now you can tie everything in the front like a shoe, or a better knot.

Enjoy your Snowshoes, and get creative with the design and see what you can make.