I finally got Garmont Vetta hike boots, still looking for the holy grail of LIGHT (say 2.5 lbs) boots that offer enough support for boulder-hopping, and have soles that will take rigid crampons yet are good enough for class 4 rock. The Vetta hikes do OK in the stiffness department, and allow me to ascend moderate snow slopes with strap-on crampons and some confidence. The soles are definitely not very sticky, but not too bad.
But they have goretex liners. After a hard day, my feet are wet with their own sweat, even if I change socks a few times.
Does anyone make light, stiff-soled boots that do NOT have goretex liners? My boots tend to get wet only when I am on snow, and I can use berghaus-type over-the-boot (but not sole) gaiters for that situation.
It seems to me that goretex in leather/fabric boots is highly over-rated -- but every manufacturer is using it these days.