The Snowshoe Experience: A Beginner's Guide to Gearin Up & Enjoying Winter Fitness »

The author of Snowshoeing Colorado and 23 other books, Claire Walter has also written numerous magazine articles on skiing, snowshoeing, scuba diving, and fitness. She lives in Boulder, Colorado.

The hottest thing in winter sports today is snowshoeing. It offers a great cardiovascular work-out for people of every age and fitness level. It's a low-impact sport, much simpler and safer than skiing. And modern aluminum snowshoes (the wood-and-moosehide models have been retired) are inexpensive, lightweight, sturdy, and look cool.

In The Snowshoe Experience Claire Walter acts as a kind of snowshoeing personal trainer, showing novices how to get maximum enjoyment out of an ancient wintertime activity that has become today's coolest cold-weather sport.

This is an activity kids, adults, and even seniors can do. Athletes will find it is a great way to stay in shape during the winter months. Couch potatoes will find that this is a fun activity that will lure them outside. And kids really love it. Snowshoeing is truly a sport for everyone.

Walter insists that if you can walk, you can snowshoe. Walter takes you, step-by-step, through the basics so you'll feel at ease--whether you are tramping across an open meadow or an urban park. And if you want to kick it up a couple notches, Walter discusses hiking in snowshoes, running in snowshoes (she supplies a list of places where you can find snowshoe races), and back-country adventures with snowshoes--including winter camping.

Whether you want a quiet walk across the snow, something with more of an adrenaline rush, or anything in between, The Snowshoe Experience is the one book that helps you do it all.