Le snowshoeing, better known with the traditional term of "ciaspole", allow you to walk on the snow easily without sinking. Once used by mountain populations as a "means" to be able to cross the valleys in the middle of winter, they have now become one of the most interesting activities that can be carried out in the snow in winter.
After years of oblivion in which snowshoes were used only as historical relics hung on the walls, in recent years they have been rediscovered and reinvented to adapt them to the needs of sportsmen and tourists.
After the boom in skiing and snowboarding, it seems that snowshoes are regaining their deserved place in the tourism and winter sports scene.
A simple walk with snowshoes allows you to escape everyday life, abandon the frenzy of the city to become one with nature. An ideal opportunity to reduce stress and give space to new reflections and ideas. You "navigate" in nature and gaze at the wonders of the area, the sounds are muffled by the white of the snow and you can breathe the crisp winter air. An oasis of peace that allows you to completely relax, leaving behind the frustrations of modern life.
Every snowshoe excursion becomes a small adventure in search of simple but fascinating places, unknown mountain corners that offer a thousand surprises, beauties unknown to many, set in natural and uncontaminated places. It is easy to come across fawns that come down from the woods in search of food, or in a race between hares that seem to fly on the snow cover.
Snowshoeing requires no special knowledge or skills, making it an activity accessible to everyone, from children to the elderly, for both athletes and non-athletes. This is precisely one of the reasons this activity has become so popular. Unlike skiing and snowboarding, snowshoeing doesn't require specialized training to learn the technique. However, it's worth remembering that more and more winter resorts are organizing courses, often free of charge, that aim to teach (not so much the technique) as the important safety rules to follow in the mountains to protect yourself and other hikers.
If you want to bring the risk to zero then the ideal is to contact the local Alpine Guides, they are highly specialized experts who know the area well. In addition to guiding us in complete safety on the snow, the alpine guides can help us discover the unknown beauties of the place, panoramic points that are no longer known and not marked in the guides, teach us to admire nature by observing the animals that come out of their dens in search of food. Furthermore, always with the alpine guides, it is possible to organize real multi-day tours, to discover new mountains and new beauties; such as excursions on full moon nights with dinner in a refuge and torchlight procession.
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Venturing off the beaten path with snowshoes allows you to admire the winter landscape in all its authentic beauty: fascinating and secluded, stimulating and tranquil at the same time. One of the areas that most favors snowshoeing is Alta Pusteria, in northern Trentino-Alto Adige. Here, you'll find several dedicated trails, all categorized by length, elevation gain, and travel time—a veritable guidebook complete with maps. Hiking through the valleys of Alta Pusteria, you can admire dreamlike landscapes with views of the most important mountains in the Dolomites. Among the numerous tours, one that stands out is the one leading to the Locatelli Refuge, with its fantastic views of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo.
Thanks to the widespread diffusion of this discipline, more and more ski areas and mountain tourist areas are equipped to offer hikers the best resources, from snowshoe sales and rental points to guides and GPS tools so you never lose your way. Of no less importance is the winter reopening of the huts and shelters once abandoned during the winter season, thanks to the "snowshoe hikers" even the shelters far from the slopes and more isolated come alive during the winter season becoming refreshment and meeting points for true mountain lovers in winter.
The growth of this activity is a sign of a renewed awareness of the environment. Snowshoe excursions have zero impact, requiring no ski lifts or other means of transportation other than your own legs and a strong desire to discover new places. This allows for a return to simplicity, where the focus is on the local area, not technology. This represents an excellent opportunity for all those places that, due to geographical location or lack of economic resources, have been overshadowed by the major ski resorts.
Snowshoes become an instrument of reconquest with which to relaunch healthy and environmentally friendly tourism, rediscover the values of the past, the traditions and tastes of the typical products of the territories where local agriculture is still one of the cornerstones of the life of everyday
Photo credits: Alta Pusteria Tourist Consortium/K. Peterlin
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