Contents no. 43 - December 2025
How to choose your snowshoes?
Choosing snowshoes is not always straightforward, as models differ considerably.
Depending on terrain, snow type and your winter hiking activities, a model may prove comfortable or quickly limiting. Flat terrain, rolling routes or steeper slopes each impose specific criteria.
To choose snowshoes well, consider several factors in the right order:
- size, directly linked to total load and flotation in snow,
- grip, from crampons and rails, crucial for safety uphill, across slopes or on hard snow,
- then the binding system, determining foot support and lasting walking comfort.
This guide helps you understand these criteria and choose snowshoes genuinely suited to your activities.
This will help you make the right choice from our TSL snowshoes, selected to suit different uses.
Snowshoe hiking around Puy de Sancy
The highest point in the Massif Central, Puy de Sancy is a good winter destination, generally with snow and a range of pleasant, varied hikes and landscapes.
Here are some ideas for beautiful snowshoe hikes, along with walks without snowshoes if the weather prevents access to the ridges. I completed them during 2 visits in February.
These routes are generally technically straightforward, but watch the weather: wind at higher elevations can be powerful and bitterly cold. As always, be careful and gather information before setting out.
Which pocket knife for outdoor activities or hiking?
Whether hiking, wild camping or travelling, a pocket knife is a simple but essential tool. There is no need for an oversized or overly complex model: outdoors, a good pocket knife is above all reliable, practical and suited to actual use.
Here is how to choose the most suitable pocket knife for your outdoor trips, with clear technical guidance and pointers among the market's leading models.
What is a pocket knife used for outdoors?
Outdoors, a pocket knife primarily handles small everyday tasks: preparing food, opening packaging, adjusting equipment or whittling a small piece of wood. It is also essential in a repair and emergency kit.
For most hikers, a folding pocket knife is more than sufficient. Lighter, more discreet and easier to carry than a fixed-blade knife, it covers most field needs. Choose a model suited to occasional or regular use without going overboard.
