Middle Earth Ranger Forum

This came through on my historical renactiont side, figured I'd have to share.

http://sagy.vikingove.cz/scandinavian-crampons/

AAA! This is great, thank you!! I've been wondering about this for ages! I've about broken my shins on clear ground in slippery period shoes - come the winter ice it's been essentially impossible. I'd been looking at the crampons banged out of iron stock in the colonial catalogs, and wondered how correct they were. This is an awesome pointer.

Do we know of anyone making these things?

On a related note - like you we can get pretty significant snowpack up here. I've always thought that sinew-webbed showshoes are a native American thing - do you happen to know of a European analog? I think I've seen short skis of some sort on at least latter-day art. Are those documented / have you guys tried them?

Viking era snow boots used seal fur, which apparently has bristly traction. The front half of the shoe would have the fur pointing backward, the back half pointing forward.

And I believe skis are attested to in Scandinavia way back, but I've also wondered if there was a European analog to the Native American snow shoe.