Choosing Hiking Boots
|
 Good boots will be comfortable over any terrain, across long distances and protect your feet in all weather. (Right) Inn Pinn - The Inaccessible Pinnacle. David enjoying the hardest Munro in his boots. |  |
So what should you look for in a new hiking boot?
COMFORT, COMFORT AND MORE COMFORT!
But to achieve comfort you need to follow most of the following steps:
- If you haven’t already, think about the main type of walking you are doing or going to do in the new boots.
- For example, will you be rambling along valley floors on reasonably good paths and over grassy hills? In which case you might consider a lighter perhaps fabric boot.
- Or will you be walking over stony ground such as found in the Rocky Mountain National Park, in the English Lake District and in the Scottish Highlands? Then you should consider a heavier boot with a stiffish sole.
To achieve this in the US you will want to consider medium to heavyweight hiking boots and in the UK you will want to consider what is known as 3 season walking boots – stiff but not hard as planks like some 4 season boots, and not heavy in weight compared to other similar makes.
- For example, will you be rambling along valley floors on reasonably good paths and over grassy hills? In which case you might consider a lighter perhaps fabric boot.
- Do you want your boots to have a built in waterproof liner or not? We definitely prefer a gore-tex liner which virtually guarantees that your feet stay dry (apart from perspiration).
- Go to a shop (that has a good range of leading make boots such as Scarpa, Meindl, Raichle, Asolo, Berghaus and Timberland), preferably near the end of the day when your feet are naturally slightly larger. Take with you to the shop your intended hiking socks. See our section on Hiking Socks.
- Have your feet measured every time you buy new boots. Feet can change in size as you get older. Select a boot size that is a half or a full size larger than your foot size.
- Take out the inner sole and stand on it with your heel in the heel cup of the inner sole. There should be at least a finger width of space at the toe end.
- Try on both boots (most people have one foot slightly larger than the other) and lace them up as you would normally or let the shop assistant do it for you. They can also show you some useful tips on alternative methods of lacing up.
- Walk around the shop. If possible, walk up and down an incline - aggressively. Check for any lift i.e. movement in the heel. Reject boots that have lift in the heel unless you are confident that you can eliminate such movement by inserting a different inner sole or volume adjuster. Also check that your toes have enough room and do not touch the inside front of the boot when coming down the incline.
- Do the boots feel good? If not reject them. Modern hiking boots should feel good straight out of the box. They will not feel like your old boots/slippers but they should feel walkable. Don’t let some one kid you when they say the boots will be fine when you have broken them in!
- Are there any areas under pressure especially in respect of width - this might just affect one foot only. If so reject them and try the next half size up.
- Note if the boots are slightly too small they will soon cripple you on a long hard walk, but if they are slightly too big you can usually live with them by inserting different inner soles, or volume adjusters, and/or thicker socks perhaps combined with liner socks. But you need to get it right before a big walk.
- Most retailers (check with them before you buy) allow you to take the boots home to try them out for a few days on the carpet – if you are not completely happy with them take them back and start again with a different size and/or make of boots.
- Even the most comfortable boots will need a little breaking in whilst you experiment with different socks and/or inner soles. Perseverance is necessary if you have awkward shaped feet.
My own hiking boots are made by Raichle of Switzerland (Mountain Trail XT GTX).
I favour them because they are stiff as a 3 season boot should be, they are comfortable and for me they have that little bit extra in the width that I need.
However, see our July 2009 update on
Raichle boots.
If you live in the US you can view other makes such as Asolo boots online at the
Sierra Trading Post
and review Asolo FSN 95 Gore-Tex(R) Hiking Boots - Waterproof winner of Backpacker Magazine's "best backpacking boot" award and currently priced at just $124.95.
Top of this Hiking Boots page
Return to Hiking Footwear
Return to Ideal Hiking Equipment homepage
