What’s amazing:
First, this boot hugged my foot. It is comfy on the inside and rigid on the outside. I was able to take them out of the box and immediately hit the trail.
Very versatile boots. I hiked a few miles in our local state park through mud and rain on mostly flat terrain. My feet stayed warm and dry. Then I took the boots up one of our local ten mile roundtrip 6000 foot snow covered mountains with 4000 feet of elevation gain. These boots remained rigid on incline and decline. When I hit the consolidated snow, I was able to attach crampons and finish the last two miles to the summit. Again, when I arrived back at the trailhead, my feet were still dry despite walking through a mile or so of soft snow in the beginning and end.
Blister Free was on the tag that I cut off the boots. Even after hiking ten miles over 5 hours, my feet still felt good and I didn’t have any hotspots from shoe rub.
Still comfy after a long day of backpacking. Days after the snow peak, I took these on a training hike of 15 miles while carrying a 37lb backpack. While I did change out my socks after 8 miles, my feet remained solid and pain free after 15 miles in these boots. My feet were still tired, but I felt like I could have kept walking at least another 5 miles or so.
These boots are pretty light too at 2lbs 6oz (size 9). For the same 6000 foot peak during the winter, I would have hiked in either my Vasque St. Elias boots (2lbs 9oz) or my Scarpa Charmoz (3lbs).
Not so amazing:
These boots have only been tested on my feet for approximately 30 miles. Hundreds of miles still beckon those Vibram soles. In the 30 miles, I didn’t cross streams, spend the day building an igloo, scramble a class three summit or spend multiple days in these boots. As I continue to cross these items off of the list, I’ll update this review.
Final Thoughts:
As someone who spends her summers backpacking with a larger backpack (either carrying extra kids equipment or a multiday/multi peak adventures), I am excited to treat my feet to excellent boot construction that is comfortable, flexible, rigid when needed and waterproof without having to switch between different boots for different activities.
