With the wet weather we've experienced in recent weeks, you would think a better idea would be making rubber boots.
The Aboriginal Sports Circle of the NWT, though, hosted seven people from around the territory for a snowshoe-making workshop in Yellowknife, which happened from July 13 to 16. This was the second part of an ongoing workshop with the focus this time around being on constructing the snowshoe frames from birch.
Lawrence Cheezie of Fort Smith was the workshop's facilitator and said it was a good group of people to work with.
He said the easiest way to teach someone about making a snowshoe is to not rush it.
"Always take pride in what you're doing," he said. "These people here took up the challenge. I've had them before and they came back and they were doing the real thing now. All of them have a lot of pride in what they're doing and that's what I tell someone doing it for the first time."
Birch logs were brought in for the workshop, which were cut into shape. Once that was done, each participant shaved down the wood into the right length and thickness. After that, the four parts that make up a snowshoe were placed into a steamer for 45 minutes to make it soft enough to be bent into shape.
It didn't always go as planned as some people ended up snapping their wood during the bending process but Cheezie said he was happy to see people persevere.
"Even if the wood broke, they didn't give up," he said. "A couple of them broke their wood but they started back right away and cut some more. No throwing it out and walking away."
Shawna McLeod, the Sports Circle's traditional games manager, was also at the workshop and said Cheezie was awesome working with the students.
"He's been doing this since he was a kid," she said. "We wanted to someone to help pass on the knowledge of making snowshoes and we were limited in choices but we found Lawrence and was great."
As for why the birch kept snapping, even after being in the steamer, McLeod said there was one thing the students did that they shouldn't have been doing.
"Lawrence told everyone to leave the bark on the birch," she said. "People were ripping it off and he was watching them do it and he told me they would learn the hard way not to do it. He was nice about it when they did it the second time and showed them what they had to do. He basically gave them the tools and left them to do it."
Several of those who attended this workshop were also in Fort Smith for the first part of the process, which involved weaving the babiche to put on the snowshoe once the framing is complete.
McLeod said that was a hard slog for everyone involved.
"It was so intense," she said. "I was there with Jordee Reid and they literally went every day of the five days, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and their brains were fried after each day. If they made a mistake, they would have to take the weaving apart and do it all over again."
With the framing portion complete, the final step is learning how to make the babiche, which comes from moosehide.
McLeod said that's tentatively set to happen during the Dene Nahjo hide tanning camp in September in Yellowknife.
As important as the workshop is to show people how to do it, Cheezie said the biggest part is keeping Indigenous culture alive and well and passing on traditional knowledge.
"Our native culture and tradition is tied into the snowshoe," he said. "Patience, hunting, there are a lot of things that you can do with snowshoes."