We just got home from an epic snowshoe adventure on Mount St. Helens! Our timing was fortunate to be the first tracks in after receiving 48″ over the previous 4 days. However, I was pretty bummed out by a broken BOA binding on my favorite snowshoes and had to rely on some older ones instead.
Backstory
Let’s rewind a few years, back to the Fall of 2020. Tubbs Snowshoes and North Drinkware just announced a limited edition snowshoe they called the NW x NE Flex VRT 24.
I was stoked about this collaboration because:
- I was already a big fan of the Tubbs brand with several older pairs of their Flex TRK model (even though all my friends have MSRs).
- The features of this new version of VRTs were next level (see list below) and
- this limited edition design was fire with the topography of two iconic state highpoints as their graphics (Mt. Rainier on the left shoe, Mt Washington on the right).
Yeah, I wanted these as soon as I saw ’em! So that Christmas, my wife surprised me with a pair…
Three Years Later
Fast forward 3 years now and we’re snowshoeing in December as a training activity for our upcoming Mt. St. Helens trip. It’s a freezing cold day with my ThermoDrop Zipper-Pull registering a brisk 7°F.
We do a nice 6-mile loop that doesn’t have a ton of elevation gain, but we did reach 10,000 feet and broke through fresh powder most of the way.
When I got back to the trailhead to remove my snowshoes, I released the binding by pulling up on the BOA dial and heard a pop.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t the same pop as the BOA locking mechanism. It was a different kind of “pop”.
Talk about disappointing… I haven’t even put 100 miles on these in the short 3 years I’ve had them!
- 18 miles in 2021
- 27 miles in 2022
- 42 miles in 2023 (they broke on Dec 9th)
Limited Edition, Limited Repair Options
I reached out to Tubbs thinking a “limited edition” product would have decent replacement options. NOPE! I was referred to a 3rd party repair shop in Oregon called Mountain Soles and Outdoor Threads. Their repair service for Tubbs states:
Since my break involves the molded housing described above, it looks like I need to replace the whole binding? Well that sucks… especially when I see two rivets that hold the molded housing this BOA dial spins on! Why isn’t that an available replacement part from either Tubbs or Mountain Soles??
I suppose I’d be willing to buy the whole binding if I absolutely had to, but this specific model isn’t even available from Mountain Soles…and if it was, I’d have to buy a pair?!
DIY Repair
Could I fix this myself? Maybe, with some Gorilla glue perhaps. Or what if I could buy just the dial replacement part and then worked with a local machine shop to have a stainless steel housing made to replace that weak plastic one? Either way, this can’t happen again.
Ugh! Maybe my friends know something I don’t with everyone else using MSRs.
What would you do?
Next Level Features
VIPER 2.0 CRAMPON
- Backcountry designed crampon.
- Carbon steel toe construction with jagged teeth maximizes weighted traction and responsiveness.
- Aggressive tang in the toe crampon deliver an added degree of security on variable snow.
TRACTION RAILS
- 3D-Curved Traction Rails ensure superior sidehill grip in hard-packed and icy conditions.
- The curved shape helps prevent fore-aft slippage on steeper terrain.
DYNAMICFIT BINDINGS
- Integration of the BOA® Closure System creating a precise fir with optimized control.
- EVA foam offers comfort while providing even pressure distribution around your boot.
- Releasing the binding is as simple as pulling up on the BOA® dial.
ROTATING TOE CORD & ROTATION LIMITER
- The Rotating Toe Cord design enables the tail of the snowshoe to drop, shedding snow and reducing cardio-respiratory strain by 7%*
- Rotation Limiter prevents over-rotation
