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A Snow Walker's Companion
A Snow Walker's Companion
By Garrett and Alexandra Conover.
Ragged Mountain Press,
Camden, ME. $19.95 (US) 238 pp.
Review by MICHAEL PEAKE --
Che-Mun Editor
Canoelit Home Page
This is the season for Che-Mun readers to become writers. Our second review this month is on this definitive book from a wonderful pair of Maine Guides.
Garrett and Alexandra are four season travellers and this book is a great mate to Beyond the Paddle, the canoeing counterpart to this book written by Garrett in 1991.
The Conovers have been winter and summer Labrador travellers for the past several years. They have learned the ways of the Innu or Montagnais natives of the area and combined that with the tradition of northern trappers.
One of the great treats of this book - and a timely one for this Outfit of Che-Mun - is that the foreword is by Elliott Merrick, whose book, True North, is featured on Page 6. Merrick is a hero to the Conovers and they have corresponded for years.
This reviewer has always felt that epic tales of deprivation were great to read about but awful to experience. The satisfying objective for our canoe group is to make ourselves comfortable in unpleasant surroundings.
Travelling in comfort is the message the Conovers are trying to get across. By the use of a traditional toboggan, snowshoes, a small woodstove and a large Egyptian cotton tent one can travel through the enchanting northern boreal forest in winter. Toboggans allow much heavier loads to be taken and the stoves mean living comfortably during those long cold evenings.
A Snow Walker's Companion tells you how to source or build the necessary items and how to use them. A lot of their materials are low-tech i.e. wool and cotton. They have no kind words for "miracle" fibres. and point out these old fabrics have worked for hundreds of years!
The book's clean look is accented with numerous fine photographs which illustrate the text well.
The Conovers are nothing if not thorough. They cover what to take, how to use it and how to cope with the rigours of winter travel. As Elliott Merrick says in his foreword - and who are we to argue, "The Conovers give us not only the physical details of winter travel and survival, but the spiritual accompaniment that is part of the wilderness experience."
As usual, Elliott Merrick is right on the money. And with the Conovers, you might say it's snow surprise!
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