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Yukon Charlie’s Snowshoes: Icon Alpha Series

posted by gumptiongear February 16, 2012 0 comments


One of the great beauties of snowshoeing is that anyone can partake in the sport.  Since the Snowshoeing boom in the 1990s, the number of snowshoe models and brands on the market has blossomed, providing consumers with a variety of options.  Yet, one problem endures; while the sport remains relatively inexpensive, the ever increasing range of models has also come with an increasing price tag.

Founded in 1996, Yukon Charlie’s was built upon the vision of creating a snowshoe company that would fill the need for high quality snowshoes at a reasonable price.  So if you’ve got big powder drift dreams, but suffer from a less than illustrious sized wallet, the Yukon Charlies ICON series fits the bill.  Offering an array of snowshoe and snowshoe accessories at a stellar price point the Yukon Charlie’s brand allows any winter enthusiast to tackle the toughest winter terrain without depleting their savings account.

Every distinguished snowshoe career needs to start somewhere.  With gender specific designs, advanced technical features, and a price that will have the industry big boys doing a double-take, the ICON series sets you up for a Hall of Fame snowshoe career.  Yukon Charlie’s offers the ICON series in two performance configurations – Alpha and Beta – providing plenty of options from the recreational snowshoer all the way up to the more adventurous backcountry enthusiast.

The Yukon Charlie’s family was kind enough to send out a pair of their Icon Alpha series 9X30 size snowshoes (designed to carry up to 250 lbs) for our team to review.  When the snow finally arrived in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, we put the snowshoes to the test.

On Features and Performance…
You won’t find any clunky, tennis-racket, nomad throwback looking shoes here.  The precision multi-angle bent 7000 series frame shaped with an NRG rockered tail, provides a balanced platform for stable footing facilitating an easy, natural stride.

Abrasion-resistant YC tech decking, composed of a nylon woven membrane with a rubber coating, is as lightweight as it is durable.  The decking does a great job shedding snow while remaining flexible when cold, which makes a big difference over the life of the shoe.

The newly designed FAST FIT PLUS binding fits snugly around the foot and heel.  While it lacks a fully molded binding, it adjusts to conform to most winter boots for a solid custom fit.  More impressive, is the ease in which the snowshoer can enter and exit the binding.  Thanks to individual pull straps, you can tighten and loosen the binding with a simple one handed tug making the Icon Alpha one of the easiest binding releases of any showshoe we’ve tested.

The Icon Alpha offers plenty of float to keep you aloft on the deep drifts when you decide to venture deeper into Mother Nature’s wintery castle.   Aluminum crampons offer a deep aggressive bite when your route gets icy, and Yukon Charlie’s has included fatigue reducing heel lifts to help boost your legs and spirits when reaching for the peak.

One of the things we enjoyed about the Icon Alpha series is that the Yukon Charlie’s design team stacked it with enough features to satisfy the more advanced snowshoe enthusiast, while not creating a product that overwhelms the novice.  It’s a shoe that will satisfy your craving for adventure, while not leaving you with that guilty feeling when you loan them out to your father-in-law who’s just getting his feet wet.

Yukon Charlie’s also offers consumer performance packs in which you can purchase your snowshoes along with trekking poles, and still spend less then you might on another name brand.  The standard Icon trekking poles are lightweight 3-piece aluminum shaft that will take on every adventure you can plan. Designed to easily adjust to accommodate any size user, they are study and durable.  Due to the 3-piece construction, they may suffer from the occasional slip, but they are a great tool to provide added confidence and balance while snowshoeing, hiking, or simply trail walking.

Room for Improvement…
In more technical terrain we did experience problems with the boot remaining centered on the snowshoe.  While the binding system provided a snug fit when fully cinched, it failed to keep the foot aligned with the rest of the snowshoe at all times.  Our preference would be for a molded foot pocket that provides a more secure hold keeping the foot aligned over steep alpine terrain or an icy pitch.

The second critique centers around the aluminum crampons.  The crampons did provide solid traction on hard packed trails and ice, but we do have concerns about the long term durability of the crampon particularly the heel crampon.  For a series deemed the “Icon Alpha”  we’d like to see a steel or carbon-steel crampon in the front and rear of the snowshoe, and would be willing to pay a little more for the extra durability and assurance especially when heading into the backcountry with a heavy pack.

Bottom Line…
The Icon series is a tremendous blend of technology, comfort and affordability.  If our daily snowshoe routine forced us to routinely face icy slopes and challenging technical climbs, there are other snowshoes that we would strap on for the outing.   However, if you’re new to the sport, or a winter enthusiast intent on consistently pushing their skills to the next level, the ICON series is a capable snowshoe that is as easy on the trail as it is your wallet.