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When SideStix sent me a pair of their forearm crutches to test, they also sent a set of snowshoe attachments (big and small) for me to trial as well. To my knowledge they are the only forearm crutch company to offer such an attachment.
At first I thought it was going to be more of a novelty and awkward. But then it dumped 18 inches before a day of adaptive skiing and I got to really try them out. And I was wrong. I tried both the large size (for deep pow) and the small size (for packed/icy snow) and no slope could slow me down. They both worked surprisingly well, even in powdery fresh snow. I tramped everywhere with abandon and had more than a dozen people ask me about the gear, including many from the adaptive ski program who had never seen such a thing.
Using the crutches in snow also made me appreciate adjustable rather than fixed length forearm crutches. With my Sorels and their high platform, and the deep snow, extending the crutches a couple inches was ideal. I'll have more details (including pics) in my full review that I am working on.
Here's a video from the founder doing some snowshoeing on some crazy terrain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoCCuQ7BCTA
Here's what they look like close up.
http://sidestix.com/buy-best-forearm...s-attachments/
At first I thought it was going to be more of a novelty and awkward. But then it dumped 18 inches before a day of adaptive skiing and I got to really try them out. And I was wrong. I tried both the large size (for deep pow) and the small size (for packed/icy snow) and no slope could slow me down. They both worked surprisingly well, even in powdery fresh snow. I tramped everywhere with abandon and had more than a dozen people ask me about the gear, including many from the adaptive ski program who had never seen such a thing.
Using the crutches in snow also made me appreciate adjustable rather than fixed length forearm crutches. With my Sorels and their high platform, and the deep snow, extending the crutches a couple inches was ideal. I'll have more details (including pics) in my full review that I am working on.
Here's a video from the founder doing some snowshoeing on some crazy terrain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoCCuQ7BCTA
Here's what they look like close up.
http://sidestix.com/buy-best-forearm...s-attachments/