Part Way to a Bindings Fix

There is a NCT hike tomorrow. There are 10" of snow on the ground here, and possibly more on the trail. If no one has hiked the trail this week, it will be tough going. If only one or two people have tried to hike, it will be a mess with "post holes."

In any case, my snowshoe bindings have not fixed themselves. Haha. As you can see, these straps- the ones that fasten around the instep of your boot are in imminent danger of turning into four pieces instead of two. I really don't want that to happen on the trail. So I got serious about some other solution today.

I rummaged around in my webbing scrap box and found two pieces of lightweight webbing with clips that I cut off something else that was dead (I think something of Om's). For a temporary fix to make sure this kind of clip buckle will work (some are too hard to undo when they are cold), I fastened the straps on with safety pins. That will be fine for at least tomorrow.

Here are the boots clipped in to the shoes. You can't see the new straps at all because they are black. That white toe strap is from the military bindings. I can use the other toe strap from that set. But the long strap that goes around the back of the boot is way too long and can't be altered without sewing (see link below for more info than you want about those bindings). And, sigh, I currently have no working sewing machine. (Which is increasingly becoming another a real problem). The reddish-brown is the remaining pieces of the neoprene bindings. The blue is a jerry-rigged velcro fix on the boots because the plastic buckles disintegrated and the boots are still fine (I just love expensive gear with one low-quality piece that sabotages the whole thing, don't you?).

And here is a closeup of the "new" black strap with buckle. If these work well, I'll rummage in my webbing box some more to find long strips for the heel strap. I'm pretty sure I have enough, but I think it's wide.

So I look like a toggled up mess, which it is. But I don't care as long as it doesn't break on the trail.

In other news, I did get my act together. I edited a lot in the morning. Did shopping and errands all afternoon. Ugh, but I did get gas for $2.66/gal! Soothed my stress from the hatred of shopping by pigging out on carbs.

No extra walking, though. Now, I just have to get myself to the hike on time!

See Military Service Bindings