Snowshoes were an integral part of the life of Itelmens, the indigenous people of Kamchatka. The structural feature of the snowshoes was a frame or hoop of oval, round or semi-oval shapes. Sometimes their form resembled the figure eight. This frame was either interwoven with straps in the form of a net or tied crosswise. The foot was placed on the net and fastened with strap loops.

Owing to the special design features, the snowshoes were used in a very original way. Movement on them mimicked regular walking. The local people did not slide on the surface of the snow, but stepped on it. Snowshoes prevented the foot from sinking into the snow. This gear was known to many peoples on the globe. It was made in the high mountainous regions of Central Asia, Japan, North America and in a number of other areas.

There was a great variety of snowshoes. The mesh type was not widespread in Siberia. It was common only in the northeastern part of the region. The Chukchi people and Asian Eskimos used this type of snowshoes, which were completely identical in both cultures.

The coastal Chukchi and Asian Eskimos used them during seal hunts to walk on uneven ice, while the nomad Chukchi used them when driving away reindeer herds, especially when snow thinned out or poorly covered the ground.

There is reliable evidence that in the 18th century such snowshoes along with other forms were widely used by the Itelmen people. They served mainly to pave the way for a dog sled in deep snow, and therefore were an essential tool for hunting. In everyday life they were often called “paws”, a term that has also entered the scientific literature.

Judging by old engravings and descriptions of the 18th century, the Itelmen “paws” were similar to the Chukchi and Koryak ones. The Russian ethnographer, geographer and traveler Stepan Petrovich Krasheninnikov wrote in the second volume of the 1755 edition of the “Description of the Land of Kamchatka”,