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Try the feet of arctic (high latitude) mammals...hares, wolves, etc. They possess larger foot pads than their lower latitude counterparts. Also, I think that there is more webbing present between the toes which provides additional support when the toes spread during contact with the surface. Perhaps a "ski" in which you could manually crank out more surface area when snowshoe ability is required? or a ski that has segments allowing you to rotate the front end back and the back end forward on opposing sides? I guess the general idea is to shorten the ski and increase surface area. At 12:55 PM 11/8/00 -0700, you wrote: >I am a graduate student of industrial design at The University > of Calgary working on my Master’s degree project. > >I am looking for biological inspirations for cold weather design. >I am designing a ski/snowshoe that is dynamic in that it changes >from ski to snowshoe, and back repeatedly, depending on the terrain. >I am taking a biomimetic approach to this project to possibly see >the implications and potential limitations/benefits of biomimetics >as an approach for the design process. > >Thus far, I have been looking at both plant and animal life for >inspiration. Structural elements of plants (e.g. cross-sections >of branches and their means of fastening to stems) and animals >(e.g. ligament structure and layout related to connections to >rimiges in a swan’s wing) have been of interest. Also, I am looking >into the use of materials embodying properties similar those found >in resilin, abductin, collagen and abalone nacre. > >Does anyone know of any animal that has an exoskeleton that lives >in sub-zero temperatures? > >Materials that can transform kinetic energy into heat energy and >by retaining this heat be able to enable some elasticity. In other >words, I am investigating potential means of creating a product that >dynamically “warms up” with the user, potentially creating an >“intimate” relationship between subject and object. > >I would be very appreciative of any ideas, leads or suggestions. > >Thank you, > >Ernest McCrank >Faculty of Environmental Design, >University of Calgary >[log in to unmask] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%