>>2794481Snowshoes are a versatile tool that everyone should be carrying for winter hikes. They only weight 3 or 4 lb and provide excellent traction second only to proper mountaineering crampons (which usually require specialized rigid boots)
It's also courteous to your fellow hikers, once snowshoe hikers break in a trail, there's usually a point where the snow isn't compacted enough to walk on it bareboot or in microspikes without postholing and doing so will ruin the smooth compacted trail that's been broken.
It absolutely depends on where you hike and the weather that year but the cost of jamming some snowshoes into the compression straps of your bag is pretty low for the payout if you need them. Also heel lifters (pic related) are an absolute godsend for going uphill.
