Snow Shoes From 2 Tennis Rackets and Bicycle Inner Tubes

I need snow shoes around the house. Literally. When there's a foot of snow and I need to walk around the house to rake of the snow from the eaves, it can be tiresome shoveling all around the house. Last year I grabbed a couple of tennis rackets and used some old copper house wires to hold them on. Didn't work too well and they kept falling of. Not what you want to happen when you're standing on top of a mound of unpacked snow.

So for this year I decided to make some bindings. First try was a binding woven together with rope. After making one, it looked kind of cool, but took me way too long to do one. After rethinking and a suggestion from my wife to use rubber, I figured out how to use an old bicycle inner tube. It took 5 minutes for the second snow shoe. Off I went in the snow to test them out, with one inner tube binding and one woven binding. The woven one had to be tied outside in the cold and fell off within 5 minutes. The inner tube binding just slipped on and held tight the whole time.

Probably not what you'd want for a long hike in the woods, but perfect for a quick hike nearby.

Materials: bicycle inner tube, 2 tennis rackets, scissors and your boots.

Place your boot on the racket so the sole is on the center of the racket and the heel straddles the handle.

Cut an end from a bicycle inner tube. I left it as a tube because it would be stronger than cutting into strips (faster too) Split the end and lace the 2 tongues through the racket. and back up again. Tie together tightly with a simple knot. The tension from the rubber's stretch seems to hold together fine.

Pull the inner tube tightly across the toe of the boot and cut it long enough to be able to tie it off. Split this end to the point where the end of your cut is tight against the racket and repeat the weaving through the racket and the tying off.

Create a 2nd strap further up the boot near your leg and attach the same way as before.

Almost done. Just need to tie on a rubber strip that goes from the front toe strap on either side and fits snuggly around the heel. To put them on you just slide your foot over the heel strap and into the 2 cross straps. Then pull the heel strap up and over the back of the heel.

ENJOY THE SNOW