Well I was all psyched about a hike next week off but with the sheer amounts of snow I am depressed to the point where I am considering buying the Northern Lites Elite snowshoes so I can go anyway...some buds years ago took off from Davenport Gap and a day later at Icewater Springs (dont quote me on that) woke up to 3 feet of snow...after 3 days there were airlifted to the UT hospital in Knoxville...many lessons learned from them--dont loan a backpack your not willing to loose forever, watch the weather channel, pray a lot, carry extra food, and what about snowshoes? I have several pair of them already-the old fashioned wooden type that look good beside the stone fireplace, these I would never consider hiking with but they have seen use in an emergency when I needed to get back to civilization from my cabin in the same 3 foot conditions that my friends discovered in the smokies...so the question to all you section hikers is this...if you winter hike do or would you consider snowshoes as part of your emergency gear? The Northern Lites Elite model was carried by Brian Robinson on his AT section which he began Jan 1....your thoughts please.