Sherpa snowshoes - aftermarket bindings?

I have a 10 year-old pair of Sherpa snowshoes that have served me well and are still in great shape. But I'm tired of falling out of the old bindings. I'd like to upgrade with snug modern ones. Sherpa offers a retrofit for $99 but is apparently out of stock right now. Has anyone had any luck with an aftermarket binding that fits older Sherpas? Thanks.

Great question. I have 2 pairs of Sherpas with hundreds of mountains under their belts, and they are both in great shape.
I have the same problem. Whether its the Limmers or Sorels, the soft webbing loosens up over the day, and with the cold and snow, its almost impossible to keep them on the boots without adjustments every 15 minutes on the way down and out. A friend gave me a set of Tubbs bindings that i'm hoping to fit, but it looks like I'd have to cut the Shepa bindings off to make them fit. At this point I'm reluctant to do that. The Sherpas are really good shoes, with great floatation and no rivets to fail. I'd love it to be able to get good bindings on them. Does anyone know what Sherpas replacement binding look like and can you use the existing crampons with them?

I spent quite a bit of time looking into this last year. I came into a pair of 36-inch Sherpas that have the old-school binding (without the toe hook) on them. I wanted to upgrade and if possible put the "Prater" binding on them. It's the one that they used to sell that is a step-in (like step-in crampons, not step-in like ski bindings) model.

things I learned:

1) Sherpa has gone/is going out of business. I spoke with a woman on the phone (Gene Prater's wife or sister I think) and it was a very bleak conversation. The woman was noticably upset and told me how they were falling apart as a company. She gave me a couple of numbers to call to track down a pair of bindings. I had no luck with those people though and I no longer have the contacts.

2) when and if available, the Prater bindings go for about $150. They are slick though (Mr. Ellozy has a pair which I saw in action)

3) I experimented with a adding my own toe pieces to the bindings, although I put that project on hold. Maybe I'll work on it more this winter. I found the nylahide or whatever it is that they use for the bindings and was going to rivet some pieces on. I have not tried adding a binding from a different company on them, although that is likely my next step. I've been very happy with my Atlas 12-series shoes (4 years and going strong), so I've been keeping my eyes open for a pair from which I can pilfer the bindings.

4) There is a guy in northwest Canada somewhere that did all the repair work for Sherpa when shoes got sent back to them (he is one of the people that they suggested I call). I don't have his info, but you might find him online with some savvy googling. They seemed to think he would be the only Sherpa-oriented person left on the planet after they closed shop.


If you search VFTT you might find a thread from last year when I said much of this. There might be some more detail there.

Good luck and do share whatever you find out...

spencer

Last winter the Mountaineer in Keene Vally still had Tucker aka mountain guide bindings in stock. They were up to $125 vs. $99 from a year earlier, but they were no longer available. Picked up a pair for back-up. Heard that they sold out but it's worth a call since they might have found a pair laying around.

sherpa shoes

Hey guys Im in the same boat. My Sherpas are very old, I have the aggressive crampon binding that has held up very well. The bindings on mine have hooks all the way around and 2 of those hooks have broken off, I took a leather cutting tool and cut a hole the exact width of the strap and thread it through the hole. That was 5 yrs ago and they have not failed since.
The nice thing about the aggressive crampon binding is it eliminates the constant dilema of switching fron snowshoes to crampons above treeline as these bindings can walk across hard ice with ease, although slightly awkard, its better then switching back and forth for short sections of snow/ice mix commen above treeline.

John,

I checked with Chuck at the Mountaineer earlier, before I saw your post. When they put the addition on, he said they cleaned out all their older stuff and he no longer has any. Thanks for the suggestion though. What a shame, the older model Sherpa shoes were terrific, but the binding we a disaster.

Wow, timely thread. I am in the same boat. I was looking at them last night wistfully wondering what to do. My old Sherpas are still going, but I would like to find a snowshoe with a better binding. I tried calling sherpa before as well as e-mailing, but never got a response.

I have the old white tucker alpine claw binding with the with hooks all the way around. It seems like friends of mine that got newer models in the mid 90's all had the same tucker binding, but they had black binding lace and they came with a heel crampon. I should have upgraded then.

I had called Sherpa back around '96 when I got my Koflach varios, as the heel binding laces kept falling off the back of my boots. Back then the Bill Prater bindings were around, but extremely expensive. For $20 Sherpa sent me their "fit kit" which was ~10 inches of black 1/2 inch webbing with loops on either end and a clip in the middle. You loop the end loops of the black webbing around the white snowshoe heel lace on either side of your boot and clip it over the top of your ankle. This kept the heel lace from sliding off the back of your boot and you from stepping out of the snowshoe.

I have been thinking of Atlas's and also the new MSR, but I have since decided against the new MSR and am back to focusing on Atlas 12 series.

Anybody got any other thoughts?

Thanks

I have a 3 year old pair of sherpas with the lotus bindings. Been having problems keeping my boot in the binding- the toe very easily slips over the toe stop. I've also had two of the lacing holes in the decking break through. Sherpa advised that I turn them in at the end of last season and .... too late.

For the bindings, unless I find a source for the step ins, I was planning on thinning some seam sealer and applying it to the foam pads on the bindings and straps. If that doesn't work fit a second strap through the toe stop.

I'm really bummed about this, after breaking MSRs three times I was looking forward to a sturdy snowshoe.

So, anybody have any ideas on what to use as deck material?

A pair of Sherpa snowshoes with a modern binding would be the Hummer of the snowshoe world. The Sherpas are so foolproof. No rivets to pop in strategic places, simple synthetic laces that can be field repaired if they broke(and in a zillion winter miles, beating the tar out of them on snow, spruce traps, mixed and icy terrain, and using them as snowshovels, they almost look like new) and not at all heavy. I'm hoping the Tubbs binding can be made to work on it, but what a joy to find something that doesn't require surgery to the Sherpas.
Its just short of criminal what the company that bought out Sherpas did to them.

I have the same problem that Warren mentioned with my Sherpa Climbers with the Lotus bindings. I keep thinking of making something akin to clips on a bike pedal and screwing that onto the toestop via some kind of bolt, washer, and nut.

Or perhaps a more lighter alternative was to bolt something taller to the toe stop to help with descending with the Climbers.

Jay

The Lotus Binding sucks. (MHO) It was a design disaster. The problem lies in the plastic buckles. The webbing slips through these buckles. The old Sherpa binding uses metal buckles that hold the webbing tightly.

I was able to advise someone using the Lotus bindings ... to get limited success by doubling the nylon over the buckle. This eliminated the slipping. Of course it becomes a bear to get it off at the end of the day when the nylon is frozen.

In short, change the bindings or at least the buckles on the existing ones ... but then you need to source new buckles. The buckles on the old bindings used a narrorer webbing (1/2" vs 1") so a simple swap won't work. If you find suitable buckles, a shoe maker could probably do the sewing if required.

Better yet, sell them on e-bay and buy an older pair. I see them all the time for about $25-50. Pick-up up a spare pair myself. Kept my broken ones for parts. You have to know what your looking for but Sherpas with Tuckers are out there if you wait. Sherpas without Tuckers (with the old alpine binings) are there all the time.

JHS

John, yup, those plastic ones suck. I can't complain too much though as I got this pair of snowshoes for like $90 new from STP a few years ago. What I do currently, is to tie the extra strapping behind my leg. I might try your method too, see if double buckling works.

I have broken a rivet and also lost a webbing strap and was sent some replacements free of charge but have been kind of not wanting to spend too much money on these. Because I was close to buying a pair of Northern Lites a few years ago until I saw the Sherpas on sale and the price was too good.

Otherwise, I like them.

Jay

John and Jay - I have been keeping my eye on the sherpas on e-bay and there are quite a few out there this week. More importantly, I just saw new toe ends for the older sherpas with open toes -could they also fit the front of a lotus binding.

Sherpa Toe Ends

(and this discussion just saved me from bidding for my wife on the pair of new khumbu climbers with lotus binding that ends today)

My bindings have the neoprene toe caps. The problem I've experienced for years is the binding loosening up over the day. Early in the morning when strapping them on, the bindings are OK. Then, as the miles accumulate, my boots scuff forward, they push on the toe piece when kicking-in while climbing, and get lots of front and back pushing on the descent. As a result, the entire binding loosens up and the Sherpas start flopping around. Sometimes it happens early in the day, but once it does, retightening the nylon straps is a chore and it keeps happening. Is there something I might have not tried in lacing the bindings that has worked for you to keep this from happening?

Peakbagr, I have the same binding and have long suffered the same problem. I fix webbing around my ankles and loop the rear binding strap through it. That keeps the rear strap from popping off the boot. But the real problem is loosening of the front bindings. I've given up there.

Lotus Binding Webbing Slipping Problem?

I was thinking that a possible solution might be to knurl the webbing contact surface on the buckle to increase the friction. I'd use the edge of a file to put many small angle grooves. Usually buckles have a textured surface, but making that surface rougher might help. Be careful not to go to deep and weaken the buckle.

It might work

I sanded the webbing and pads on my lotus bindings, haven't had a chance to test it yet. I'm going to give the buckles a closer look and see if that approach will work.

I've also considered thinning down some seam grip and spreading a thin coat on the straps.

The toe guard doesn't appear to be designed for the lotus bindings but the idea seems as if it will be easy enough to execute on your own. I've been needing to get a rivet gun as it is.

I just took another look at my Lotus bindings. Has anyone tried using webbing on the toe clip to keep your boot in place? It looks like webbing could be connected to the two front flaps of the binding and then through the hole in the toe clip.

I suppose a better solution would be a rigid piece of metal attached to the toe piece that extends over the toe of your boot to keep it in place, but that would require mechanical fasteners.

As far as the binding buckles coming loose during the day, I used to suffer from this problem a lot. I found that the loose ends of the binding straps flopping around made the situation worse. My snow shoes came with small plastic clips to hold the ends of the straps. I found that using these helped keep the bindings tight for longer periods. I also added some velcro to the ends of both straps so I could attach them together behind my boot. That helped too.