Leather Boots in Winter

[Voyager]

Tips for Frozen Boots

I've been winter backpacking for about 8yrs now and so far I've been happy with my Leather Merrel boots for the past 4yrs. At night I'll take 1 or two of those cheap disposable heat pads or hand warmers they sell @ Target/Dicks Sporting Goods place them towards the toe portion of the boot and seal the top part with a sock. Then I'll turn the boot upside down so the heat works its way through the entire boot. When morning comes your boots are dry and ready to go. This year I'll try wrapping them in a plastic bag to see if it speeds up the process.

Good Luck,
Voyager

 

[shadowcat]

Boots boots boots again.....

i have to tell you from what i think you want you don't need plastic. if you are going to be doing the type of winter hiking that will require mountaineering skills and traversing up steep icy slopes or walls of ice then maybe. in that case i'd say try to find a pr of plastics on sale (the older models are always on sale - chek out sierra trading post) or the newer styles which have the stiffness needed but are a combo of plastic and leather. plastics were originally used by ice climbers or advanced/ technical mountaineering. the rest of us started buying them bec they are warm and it is sometimes (or used to be)hard to find good warm winter boots. that is not the case anymore. i have the merrell winterras and those puppies keep your feet really warm they are rated to at least -20 if not more. you can also ck out cabelas - they have all kinds of non-plastic boots some of which are rated to like -100 or some ridiculously frigid amount. the styles are just like hiking boots and they have various styles to choose from. my merrells work great w/ snowshoes also and i use a universal crampon with them. the one "drawback" if you really want to call it one, is that the non-plastic boots do not have the stiffness to often support fully automatic crampons. but for the limited time you need crampons vs snowshoes i don't find it a negative and i'd rather have the comfort and warmth. i did buy the salomon pro ice boot; which is a newer style boot for ice climbing. the nice thing about them is that they are not 100% plastic and have a removable ankle support so they are more comfortable to wear hiking and snowshoeing. they have 100 grams of thinsulate and keep me quite warm. but again they are pretty stiff and can be uncomfortable sometimes. for basic winter hiking and snowshoeing i strongly recommend a good insulated hiking boot like the winterra (appx $99-125) or the ones at cabelas or something along those lines. there's a lot of great web deals out there right now too so it's a good time to buy and not break the bank!

 

[Peakbagr]

There are alternatives to leather and plastic.
I use lightweight summer hikers until its around 30 and if there isn't much snow.
Switch to Limmers(the heavy custom ones) below that when the snow gets a little deeper and the temps are 10-15 degrees.
Go to vibram soled Sorels for everything colder.

Both the Sorels and Limmers are fine with crampons, and the Sorels have done more winter camping, hiking, and peakbagging than I could have ever asked from them.

 

[erd]

I generally wear insulated leather boots (currently, Vasque Arctics) and have found them adequate. I've toyed with the Koflach Degres as I do winter camp, and there's a lot to be said for that removable liner.

However, La Sportiva does a leather winter mountaineering boot, the Nepal Extreme, that seems to be a viable alternative to plastic. This is the closest thing I've seen recently analogous to the older leather double-wall mountaineering boots. I intend to try on a pair over at Rock & Snow in New Paltz at some point.

Such boots are overkill for the Catskills, though. They are also (like most specialized tools for mountaineering) extremely expensive, and I'm sure a lot depends a lot on the feet of the individual being fitted! A last that's perfect for one person may be murder for the next.

Ted.

 

[NHRANGER]

What about Montrail Ice 9s?

I just purchased a pair of Montrail Ice 9's from REi, on sale. They are supposed to work with Montrail's Ice 9 crampon, which attaches not just to the front and real lips but also to a little piece of metal attached to the vibram sole underneath. The boots are great, but the lips aren't deep enough to use normal crampons with bails. Any opinions of this setup?

 

[dr_wu002]

Both the Sorels and Limmers are fine with crampons, and the Sorels have done more winter camping, hiking, and peakbagging than I could have ever asked from them.

Which Sorels do you use?

 

[Remix]

NhRanger- You may have to find the style of crampons with a plastic or metal "pedal cage" up front to hold the front of the shoe.

You might consider a pair of ICE 9 compatible crampons. I used a pair of Khumbus I got on ebay really cheap with my montrail olympus's this past weekend.

They are easy to get into and out of, but completely change the character of the boot-- with the Khumbus 3 hard attachment points (front wire bale, heel plate, rear latch), the boot becomes almost as rigid as a plastic boot.

If you still want flex in your boots, go with the first kind. If you want the boot to become very rigid, get a pair of khumbus or the more expensive front point ice-9 compatible crampons.

 

[Bob]

just ask Cheesemac

He was bad-mouthing leathers pretty good yesterday...

 

[Tim Seaver]

La Sportiva Trango Extreme S Mountaineering Boots

I have used the La Sportiva Trango Extreme S Mountaineering Boots for a few seasons now, and am very happy with them. The ankle flexibility is superb - good enough to run in, are very light ( 3 lbs 9 oz.), and have a nifty built in Schoeller gaiter. My only beef is that they are a bit tricky to take on and off due to the snug fit of the upper.

check it out

 

[Mttop]

I just purchased a pair of Montrail Ice 9's from REi, on sale. They are supposed to work with Montrail's Ice 9 crampon

ONLY, they are part of a system,unless you get away from automatic or pnumatic bindings.You will have to use ICE 9 crampons or strap ons.

 

[NHRANGER]

Thanks! I just talked to people at REI who said that Montrail has found some kind of problem with their Ice 9 system, REI folks didn't know what, and hence the sale price on the boots. The boots arevery comfortable, obviously much more comfortable than most plastics, but also more comfortable than the Scarpa Freney XTs, and several different La Sportivas such as the Lohtse. By comfortable I'm not referring to fit, which in my case is fine, but ease in walking on rock, which in winters like this one (so far) can happen a lot until you get to the ice. They are flexible in other words. The idea that I could take these comfortable insulated flexible hikers and snap on crampons to make them rigid enough for ice climbing is attractive, so I'll purchase a pair of Montrail crampons even though that would bring me to four sets of crampons. If there is some kind of defect the good news is that I will have purchased it from REI. Obviously wouldn't take it on a long trip, or if I did bring a spare strap-on set of crampons with me. More likely to use the Scarpas or La Sportivas on overnight trips in the Whites and plastics near (or below) zero or when I'm out for more than one night or in some kind of serious situation above treeline or on Rainier or something.

 

[Gris]

Dr. Wu - with all due respect to those much more experienced than i - if it ain't broke, why fix it?

 

[dr_wu002]

Dr. Wu - with all due respect to those much more experienced than i - if it ain't broke, why fix it?

Because I don't want to risk having to chip my toes off when I froze them to death because I went out hiking in the winter with my light, 3-season leather boots. I don't want to be one of those people!

 

[Gris]

Mia culpa, i misunderstood you, thought you said you've done many winter hikes with those same boots w/o any problems. As for me, i've done a fair amount of winter day hiking w/ my old dad's hand-me-down leather/fabric Danner Sierra's (200g Thinsulate & 1st generation Gore-Tex liner) w/o any incidents of cold feet.

 

[SherpaKroto]

Gris, If you had managed to get out of bed a bit earlier for the Hancocks hike, you would have met Dr Wu While we were going up North, you were headed up South.

 

[Gris]

Think i heard him down on the wash below loop junction - expressing envy of your plastic boots...

 

[dr_wu002]

Think i heard him down on the wash below loop junction - expressing envy of your plastic boots...

That was me asking Sherpa to takes his boots off so that it'd be easier to carry him out

 

[dr_wu002]

Mia culpa, i misunderstood you, thought you said you've done many winter hikes with those same boots w/o any problems. As for me, i've done a fair amount of winter day hiking w/ my old dad's hand-me-down leather/fabric Danner Sierra's (200g Thinsulate & 1st generation Gore-Tex liner) w/o any incidents of cold feet.

Gris: the 3-season leather boots I'm currently using have no insulation at all and in terms of leather, they're actually pretty thin. I love them and last week at Hancock they were warm as hell when I was moving but I fear that in -40 temps they might not be adequate. I don't want my toes to freeze off and die -- I wouldn't look good in metal feet. But I asked the question partly because I wasn't yet sold on the necessity of plastic boots. I ended up getting a new boot, not plastic but you'll have to hike Chocorua with me this weekend to find out what it is.

 

[Dalraida]

Evaluation Day

I will be acting as a witness this sunday when dr_wu002 checks out his new boots. I will be in my 20+ year old gray Koflach Ultras as a comparison. My SMC hinged crampons are even older than my Ultras. yadayadayada

 

[dr_wu002]

I will be acting as a witness this sunday when dr_wu002 checks out his new boots. I will be in my 20+ year old gray Koflach Ultras as a comparison. My SMC hinged crampons are even older than my Ultras. yadayadayada

Even older then me!