Tubbs Wilderness - Women's Review

The Tubbs Wilderness snowshoe offers high comfort and an intuitive binding system that is easy to put on and take off, even with mittens. At an affordable price, it comes with useful features for day hiking, such as heel lifters. With one of the highest load capacities in our lineup, it is an excellent choice for heavier day hikers or when you need to heft a kerfuffle of gear.

Performance Comparison

Flotation

We wear snowshoes to avoid post-holing in deep snow. We test each snowshoe's performance on fresh powder, deep-packed snow, and shallow-packed trails. The Wilderness model excels in most conditions and can accommodate heavier loads.

The Tubbs Wilderness features a hollow aluminum frame covered with Soft Tec decking, which almost entirely covers the frame, ensuring enough surface area to float on top of the snow. The smooth and stretchy texture of the decking also gives a little pep in your step while walking on harder-packed terrain. The Wilderness offers a Rotating Toe Cord design with a rotation limiter. The Rotating Toe Cord element of the hinged binding allows the tail of your snowshoe to drop and release snow, making it easier to walk and saving you energy. The tendency to posthole is low for our lineup, although less high than frames with more surface area or flotation tail add-ons. Overall, our testers were happy with the flotation this pair of snowshoes offered on most terrain.

Traction

While flotation is extremely important for snowshoes, traction comes second in our test metrics. Stability is a huge part of the activity - from ups and downs on steep inclines to walking on slippery and icy surfaces. Rarely do we find ourselves on perfectly fluffy snow with no ice, hills, or other obstacles, and the Tubbs Wilderness offers moderate traction appropriate for casual hiking.

During our testing for traction, we pay special attention to the crampons' presence, the frame's general traction, and the teeth' placement for lateral and horizontal traction engagement. We test every pair of shoes on steep ascents, descents, ice, and mixed terrain. The Wilderness model features a COBRA Toe Crampon made of carbon steel located under the ball of the foot. It offers consistent contact with snow and ice, regardless of the grade or pack level. The large, jagged teeth help secure the shoe to the snow beneath it but do not stick in a way that trips your next step.

The Wilderness heel crampon features two parallel bars to the foot. While the toe and heel crampon work well for packed trails, the tubular frame's rounded edges can be slippery if the weight shifts to the frame's edge. Moreover, the crampons don't have enough traction rails, making them slide on steep slopes or uneven, icy terrain. Therefore, if you plan to climb steep mountainsides, you should consider shoes with a traction system with enough grip for technical terrain. During descents, our testers found that keeping the weight in the balls of the feet to engage the toe crampon was helpful because the rounded edges of the tubular frames don't have as much perpendicular gripping as we would like to prevent slippage at steep angles. The crampon system gives exactly the grip casual hikers need for moderate terrain.

Walkability

Sometimes snowshoes can feel like wearing Ronald McDonald's comically large clown shoes, but it doesn't have to be that way. A foot-shaped, narrow, or tapered model will allow you to walk more naturally. For a traditional tubular frame, the Tubbs Wilderness is narrow enough for most users to walk comfortably without clicking the frame together.

During our stride ergonomics testing, we focus on whether our shoes allow us to maintain a natural stride without interfering with each other. One critical factor contributing to Stride Ergonomics is the angle at which the snowshoe pivots from the foot. The Rotating Toe Cord With Rotation Limiter enables the shoe to fall naturally towards the trail from the ball of the foot without causing any obstruction. The frame's upturned tail and nose also help promote a natural heel-to-toe stride. On the Tubbs website, the product description indicates that this can reduce the musculoskeletal impact on hip, knee, and ankle joints.

The Wilderness offers three sizes recommended for carrying 80 to 250 pounds of support, making them one of the widest weight-bearing capabilities in our lineup. Our market research indicated that several users with heavier bodies experience good flotation and walkability with this model. They are a good choice for heavier hikers or weighted packs. The load recommendation includes weight carried, so consider pack weight in your calculations. They are also one of the only budget options with an easy-to-engage 16-degree heel lift that can keep your calves from cramping on the uphill.

Bindings

Bindings can make or break a snowshoe. The Tubbs Wilderness has one of the most user-friendly and intuitive binding systems. Your cold hands will thank you for the ease with which you can slip these on and off.

During our testing, we pay attention to the general comfort level. It can become uncomfortable if the binding pinches or unevenly distributes pressure across the foot. The Wilderness QuickFit Binding is innovative yet simple. It features two nylon pull straps on the toe plate that tighten around the forefoot effortlessly. If you don't strap it too tight, the tension is distributed evenly across the foot with zero pinching. They are easy to operate on the first fitting. The front straps are easy to cinch down on the fly but require two hands, although we testers found it a cinch in mittens and gloves.

We can tighten the heel strap one-handed, and the strap tucks away neatly as long as you slide the keeper to the end of the tail. Plenty of slack is in all the straps for larger feet or hefty boots. The shoes are labeled left and right, which helps avoid confusion, and the heel plate offers support and stability. We love that we can put them on and off so fast that our fingers don't have time to freeze. Pull the loop on top of the toe box and slip your foot out of the Wilderness to end your snow play without a fuss.

Should you buy the Tubbs Wilderness?

The Wilderness snowshoe is a fair price for a versatile and comfortable everyday snowshoe with supportive bindings. It offers load-bearing flotation and can accommodate a wide range of weights at a fair price. While the traction is excellent for most terrain, if you need more grip security for technical mountaineering, you should consider other options with better traction. Most snowshoes in this price range have binding systems that require excessive adjusting, but the QuickFit Binding is easy to adjust on the go, secure, and consistently comfortable. The easy-to-use design of the Wilderness makes it an ideal choice for day hikers or for introducing someone new to snowshoeing.

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