Winter is now fully here, no turning back this time. Pretty much a constant accumulation of snow, low temperatures, shoveling, and most importantly – snowshoeing, until at least mid March. This past week I’ve gotten to fully field test my Tubbs Wilderness snowshoes as well, as all my other trekking gear, in Asahiyama Park.

Asahiyama, in warmer climes, is often filled with visitors picnicking and enjoying one of the best views of Sapporo (day or night). It’s not a particularly large park, but a myriad of loop trails give the illusion of size and one can easily spend a couple hours wandering. Add about a meter of snow and the park becomes almost completely abandoned; the only sound one hears is the occasional crow and the crunching of snow under crampons.

The trail system is a good mix of gentle inclines and slightly steeper ascents which made for a great test of my heel lift, providing a decent boost especially when going slightly off trail in the deep powder.

There are toilets open in the winter and quite a few rest stops along the trails with thick snow covered benches, which become basically unusable.

Some of the paths have a narrow trough where the occasional hiker managed to trample through, but there are quite a few sections left untouched that were just asking to be plowed with my size 30 Cobra cleated snowshoes.

At the end of the day, all my gear held up sportingly. One minor inconvenience with my Tubbs was that the front binding straps often come out of the plastic clips meant to keep them out of the way. This is more an aesthetic annoyance and generally occurs on inclined slopes with deep snow. Something I’ll keep an eye on in the coming weeks. Other than that, the Tubbs Wilderness still seems to handle any task presented to them.