Snowshoe Softball

Rob signed himself up for the Snowshoe Softball games at this year’s Fur Rendezvous Celebration. His first game was at 8:30 in the morning, so we bundled everything up and headed on downtown bright and early in the morning. His team was the first one out on the field so had several feet of fresh powder to deal with, not to mention the snowshoes that were probably 20 years old. But they all gamely strapped on their gear and took up their positions.

It was a riot! Have you ever tried snowshoeing before? It’s been a while for me, but I do remember it being a lot more work than it seems to the casual observer. And to have to run in the darned things is almost impossible, particularly in several feet of fresh powder. Most of the players kept losing their shoes mid-stride, causing some rather impressive face plants and tangled up legs.

Rob was actually one of the few who didn’t lose their shoes, but mostly because he had strapped them on with about 6 bungee cords on each foot. That doesn’t mean he didn’t do some face plants, however. As I said, it’s hard work running in those things.

The softballs they were using were a bright fluorescent orange color, the theory being that they would be easier to find in the snow. That wasn’t exactly the way it turned out, however. Pretty much every time the ball made it out into the field it would get lost in the deep snow, and they’d have to spend several minutes searching around for it. That did give the batter at least half a chance to actually make it to first base, however – so I guess it wasn’t all bad.

That first game was a long one, even factoring in the One Strike rule. By the time it was over (they lost) all the team members were completely exhausted. Thankfully their next game wasn’t until 2:30, so we had a chance to go home and switch out some gear. Rob had originally thought to bundle up, but having worked so hard out there in the ball field, he overheated.

The second and third games were basically a repeat of the first (they won the second, lost the third) with the exception being that the snow had been packed down by the previous games so was much easier to navigate. The wind picked up, however, dropping the temperatures way down. I managed to stay out in the bleachers for the most of it, but ended up missing the last 10 minutes or so because I just couldn’t take the cold anymore and had to go sit in the truck to warm up.