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Vail Today: Award-wining snowshoe revealed at SIA (video)

Tricia Swenson
Vail Today
Jake Thamm, left, president and co-founder of Crescent Moon Show Shoes, talks about the company's innovative snowshoe design with Vail Today's Tricia Swenson.
Austin Day | Special to the Daily |

Editor’s note: This is part six of a seven-part series on new gear and ideas featured at the Snowsports Industries America (SIA) Snow Show held in Denver in January. SIA is a nonprofit, member-owned trade association representing suppliers of consumer snowsports with constituents in the retailer, rep and resort communities.

You know you’ve done something right when you receive the Gear of the Show recognition from some of the top publications in the industry. That’s what it felt like for Crescent Moon Snow Shoes in January at the 2017 Outdoor Retailer show.

Outside Magazine, Gear Junkie, Digital Trends and The Manual all gave Crescent Moon accolades for its new Eva all-foam snowshoe. Men’s Journal gave it the No. 1 ranking under its “Most Important New Products from Outdoor Retailer 2017” and backpackgeartest.org gave it a Creativity Award.



That’s a good way to roll into Snowsports Industries America (SIA) Snow Show, the annual trade show for winter sports. Just the visuals of this lightweight yet sturdy and reliable shoe are enough to create a buzz. Add those awards, and you’ve got something that is the most innovative thing in snowshoes since the aluminum frame.

Boulder-based Crescent Moon Show Shoes was co-founded by Jake Thamm and his wife, Tamara Laug, in 1997. The idea for a better snowshoe was scribbled on the back of a bar napkin, and they built a prototype in their garage.

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The inspiration for the Eva snowshoe came about in Thamm’s kitchen.

“Tam had just come back from a run. I think she was feeling the effects of the endorphins and said, ‘we need to make a snowshoe that feels like this.’ She was referring to the feel of her running shoes and the rocker shape they have,” Thamm said. “It was like an epiphany, and we literally went back to the drawing board to design this new foam snowshoe based on what Tam was feeling.”

The patent-pending design has a rocker shape, and the top layer is made of soft foam to provide a comfortable sensation, even on packed trails. The bottom traction is made up of a durable EVA composite that grips like a snow tire.

The new EVA Snowshoe will retail for about $149 and will be available this fall. Learn more at http://www.cresentmoonsnowshoes.com.


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