In reply to UKC Articles: Interesting article although it's a shame Jack didn't get chance to talk with people who have snowshoed more, as overall the article has a bit of a 'Chamonix' feel to it - there aren't actually many mountains in the world with cable cars up them! Last week I used my snowshoes everyday for six days of ice climbing in Norwegian arctic. On most days they were the optimal solution, better than both walking (in fact walking was soul destroyingly hard) or skiing. We didn't carry them up routes as we were doing icefalls that we abbed back down on v-anchors, but at well under 2 kgs a pair they are not too epic to carry if necessary and obviously you don't have to think of about what boots to use. The other guys we met up there don't ski, so were reliant on their snowshoes and were having a very productive trip using them.
I would look seriously at the companies that make snowshoes with mountaineers in mind - MSR primarily, but my friend had Tubbs flex alps which also seemed just the job. They will have an aggressive crampon and some way of getting grip out of the frame - like the MSR lightenings I have do. I found even easy angled water ice was fine in them.
Skiing is normally going to be more fun going back down at the the end of they day - if you can ski, but if you are ice climbing above deep, wet snow and amongst birch brush - pretty typical for most arctic areas it seems - skiing can really suck for all but the very best. Then snowshoes can be less hassle.
BTW - something else not mentioned. With NTN binding and boots, it possible for telemarkers to wear their boots for climbing just like AT skiers. I suspect due to boot flex you would want to match them to a rigid crampon like Terminators or Rambos - but I've been told by Finnish skiers/climbers that they work just as well as light AT boots to climb in.