Nowadays snowshoeing is a widespread and trendy activity. Anyway, it hasn't always been a leisure activity: in the past, snowshoes where used above all by hunters and peasants who had to walk hardly in the snowy landscape and prevented them from sinking in the snow blanket .
Snowshoes were made up of a wood circle with leather strips tied to each other. This device was tied to the shoes using a strap.
Between 19th and 20th centuriy the army introduced various means in order to be able to move also in winter in the Upper Val Pusteria and snowshoes were forgotten.
Anyway, an opposite trend can be observed in the last years: snowshoe hikes have turned to a fashionable activity. Snowshoes are particularly suitable for not too steep slopes. Moreover, they allow you to go across snowfields without any problem in the late winter, too.
Materials have been improved, too: the former wood and leather circles are now manufactured using light materials, particularly fit to human movements.
Nowadays, thanks to anti-tear materials, titanium alloys and other innovations, remarkable progresses have been made.
