Re: want light stiff-soled boots WITHOUT goretex
Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 4:51 am
All this is really an effort to find boots that are compatible with crampons, yet not so heavy that they interfere with the rest of the trip.
"Crampon compatible" has usually meant two things to me: 1) high enough so the ankle strap doesn't make mince meat out of my leg, and 2) stiff enough that when I use rigid strap-on crampons, I don't "walk out" of the crampons as the boot flexes. I've tried wearing crampons with low-cuts, and it just kills my ankles. I've also walked out of my crampons a few times, and boy that is not a good feeling.
I thought that I might be able to get by with flexi-crampons on "soft" boots. The only flexis that I've tried with my normal approach shoes (camp fours by 5.10), were the grivel monte rosas. But the plastic toe binding was so narrow that it was essentially incompatible with 5.10 approach shoes-- it was painful to wear the combo. Too bad, since the Monte Rosas are light.
The compromise is exemplified by my last Sierra trip, 11 days back: Sill from Elinore Lake, via the North (L-shaped) couloir. I wore the Garmont Vetta Hikers, which are not really grippy, but are otherwise supportive and good for boulder-hopping. We basically trudged and boulder-hopped up from Elinore. When we reached the bottom of the L-couloir, we strapped on crampons for a relatively short trip up, before we were on rock again. The couloir averages only ~40 degrees, and it seems a little goofy to plan everything for such a short snow climb; but that's essentially what I did. At the top of the couloir, the vanilla vibram soles were grippy enough for the rest of the trip. There is only about 15-20' of class 4, above the couloir, and I put more confidence in my 50' of rope, than in my soles, for the downclimb to come.
In any case, the Vetta hikers did well, but they were a lot hotter than what I normally wear. Mercifully, it was a pretty cool day. In the couloir, I wished they had stiffer soles; everywhere else, I wished they had stickier soles (but after a while I really didn't miss that so much). At least these boots weigh only about 2.7 lbs. At the end of the day, my feet looked a bit like they had been in a bathtub. I rarely ever get blisters; that day, I just got abrasion on my damp feet, with raw spots that persisted for a 5 days.
"Crampon compatible" has usually meant two things to me: 1) high enough so the ankle strap doesn't make mince meat out of my leg, and 2) stiff enough that when I use rigid strap-on crampons, I don't "walk out" of the crampons as the boot flexes. I've tried wearing crampons with low-cuts, and it just kills my ankles. I've also walked out of my crampons a few times, and boy that is not a good feeling.
I thought that I might be able to get by with flexi-crampons on "soft" boots. The only flexis that I've tried with my normal approach shoes (camp fours by 5.10), were the grivel monte rosas. But the plastic toe binding was so narrow that it was essentially incompatible with 5.10 approach shoes-- it was painful to wear the combo. Too bad, since the Monte Rosas are light.
The compromise is exemplified by my last Sierra trip, 11 days back: Sill from Elinore Lake, via the North (L-shaped) couloir. I wore the Garmont Vetta Hikers, which are not really grippy, but are otherwise supportive and good for boulder-hopping. We basically trudged and boulder-hopped up from Elinore. When we reached the bottom of the L-couloir, we strapped on crampons for a relatively short trip up, before we were on rock again. The couloir averages only ~40 degrees, and it seems a little goofy to plan everything for such a short snow climb; but that's essentially what I did. At the top of the couloir, the vanilla vibram soles were grippy enough for the rest of the trip. There is only about 15-20' of class 4, above the couloir, and I put more confidence in my 50' of rope, than in my soles, for the downclimb to come.
In any case, the Vetta hikers did well, but they were a lot hotter than what I normally wear. Mercifully, it was a pretty cool day. In the couloir, I wished they had stiffer soles; everywhere else, I wished they had stickier soles (but after a while I really didn't miss that so much). At least these boots weigh only about 2.7 lbs. At the end of the day, my feet looked a bit like they had been in a bathtub. I rarely ever get blisters; that day, I just got abrasion on my damp feet, with raw spots that persisted for a 5 days.