Crescent Moon Gold 12

The Gold 12 is Crescent Moon’s dedicated running and racing snowshoe, built for moving fast and light over the snow.

While it sports the “Gold Series” moniker, the Gold 12 differs from the other snowshoes in that line in several important ways:

• The three cleats -- located at the toe, ball, and heel of the foot -- are made of aluminum, shaving a few grams over the more rugged steel cleats found on the other Gold models.
• It’s made with lightweight components throughout, which translates to less weight on your feet – a key point when you’re racing or logging lots of long training miles..
• The Gold 12 uses an enhanced version of the spring-cam, single-pull binding found in the Crescent Moon’s Silver Series. Called the SPL Race Binding, its spring-loaded cam buckles can be tightened with a single pull. This binding system accepts a wider range of footwear than other Crescent Moon models – from women’s 5 up to men’s 14.
• For those looking to go even lighter, a bindingless “direct mount” version of the Gold 12 allows you to connect your favorite winter running shoes directly to the snowshoe. For further weight savings, this version only has two claws.

As with the rest of the Gold Series, the 12 features a powder-coated aluminum frame for strength and durability, and its deck is made of a PVC-free material the folks at Crescent Moon call TGS (“The Good Stuff”), which they claim is stronger than decking materials, like Hypalon, used by other brands.