I love snow. I love playing in the snow, although sometimes my idea of “play” is an 8 hour ski day, finishing with me crawling knackered out of my ski boots and into a pair of fluffy sheepskin boots. I do love my outdoor sports in the winter; ice skating on a real frozen pond, long walks on crunchy fresh snow, barrelling down a hillside on an old wooden toboggan (my early Christmas present from my boyfriend).
What I don’t love is trying to walk on ice, which is what we have now. My street is just covered in sheet ice, and it’s a nightmare to walk on it. That is, until I found these. I’d heard about them before as it was mentioned in the latest e-newsletter from Energia Athletics in Toronto (164 Danforth Ave, Toronto M4K 1N1). Energia is one of my favourite gyms in the world, and I wish it were here. They do my favourite classes – kettlebell and yoga – and the teachers are great.
As much as folk try to deny it in this country, snow has been coming in thick and fast the past couple winters, and we are repeatedly unprepared for it. I remember about 9 or 10 years ago, a good friend of mine from uni was planning to come visit me in Toronto over the Christmas holidays. He nearly didn’t make it over as Glasgow was experiencing 2 inches of snow, and Glasgow airport had lent their only snowplough to Aberdeen. Only snowplough? That’s madness!
Yaktrax are designed for the kind of conditions expected in Canada and the Eastern US states (NYC and Boston are pretty snow-covered this time of year, if I remember correctly). They are like snow tyres for your feet; they look like something a Spiderman impersonator may wear (complete with rubber webbing) to try to scale tall buildings. My boyfriend says they are slip-on crampons, which climbers use. These can be used everyday in the snow, and they’re reasonably affordable in comparison to the technical gear ice climbers use. You can slip them over any footwear, although I think a sturdier shoe is probably best and would be comfier to wear. I haven’t tried them on my Celtic Uggs yet, but once I do I think I may just be unstoppable – sheepskin goodness with a non-slip, failsafe sole? Oh yes!
It was snowing when I left for work this morning, as it has done for the past week. I’m pretty used to it now, and I’ve been one of the sensible folk trekking through town in a pair of hiking boots or wellies rather than more “traditional” work shoes. Now I know many people do not have the luxury I do of being able to wear whatever I damn well please to work, but still there is no excuse for the wee high heeled footprints I’ve seen more than once on my travels!
I don’t have a problem walking in snow, as I am Canadian and spent my winters buried in the stuff as a child. However ice is still a hazard for me, and as I am a person who has enough problems walking on dry ground in the summer without tripping over my own feet, ice is a particular problem. I am spectacularly uncoordinated, and even in hiking boots I skid a little with every step.
Aha, well not with these! I almost didn’t believe my boyfriend last night when he waxed lyrical about their amazingness after taking the dog for a walk at midnight. We’d both bought a pair at Tiso, but it was late when we got home so I never tried mine out until today. Now I can safely say these are the best things for winter since they invented the woolly socks and Gore-tex. I was already out the door this morning when I remembered we’d bought these, so I ran back in to put them on. I was wearing wellies with a pair of skinnies, so there was no problem getting them over my shoes. I stepped out onto the pavement outside my flat and didn’t skid at all, not even a millimetre. It was like walking on fresh snow, only with snow tyres on. I knew there was sheet ice under the layer of snow, as I could feel the crunch – didn’t slide or slip, and if I hadn’t known it was slippy by the people skidding around all over the place walking their dogs and crossing the street, I would have been blissfully oblivious.
It felt a little weird once I got in to work, as the chains made a clinking noise reminiscent of Jacob Marley’s ghost in A Christmas Carol. On bare pavement where there is no snow, the Yaktrax felt a little strange as well, but it’s a small price to pay for not falling on one’s bum on black ice.
I have had at least 3 comments since I got in today, all from people impressed with this ingenious invention.
I love these, and I shall be wearing them every day until the snow melts.
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