How to choose hiking shoes
Keep your head cold and your feet warm - everyone has known this saying since childhood, but hardly anyone listens to it until they find themselves on a hike in unfavorable conditions of cold and high humidity. After the first hike, probably all tourists think about the need to buy comfortable, durable shoes that can withstand all the conditions of travel, ensure easy movement over any terrain and create a comfortable temperature regime for their feet.
The models we presented are simply samples (not the best or the worst) for each specific type of hike, and moreover, each specific hike requires its own boot with its own characteristics. Each company (with the exception of the highly specialized KOFLACH type) produces the entire range of hiking shoes, which includes both boots for simple and extreme hiking conditions. Therefore, we would not like to single out any model as the most successful - everything is determined by the conditions of the trip!
What kind of boots are there?
At the moment, the following types of hiking boots can be distinguished: plastic boots with internal inserts for high-altitude ascents, boots for difficult mountain hikes, trekking boots, trekking sneakers, rock shoes. But before describing the characteristic features of each type, let's say a few words about the materials from which modern hiking shoes are made. The first thing we will start our story about boots with is a story about the materials from which the soles are made. Particular attention here should be paid to the soles of VIBRAM, which is the main supplier of high-quality soles for all companies that make hiking shoes. The fact is that all the soles of this company are designed for extreme hiking conditions and, if possible, provide maximum grip of the boot with the surface, while the most worn areas of the sole are reinforced. The sole production technology and the material from which they are made are the company's secret. It must be said that VIBRAM soles are used mainly on boots designed for high-altitude ascents, on shoes for difficult hikes and on some models of rock shoes. Manufacturers, as a rule, use soles of their own making from various polymer materials on trekking shoe models. In this case, there is no need to talk about the poor quality or insufficient strength of the materials compared to VIBRAM soles - simply, in this case, great wear resistance is not required from the sole, and the companies manufacture their products using the most modern technologies. In addition to the main sole, every modern boot also has an intermediate sole, which serves to soften impacts on the foot when jumping, and on mountaineering boots, also for better attachment of additional means of transportation to the boot (crampons, snowshoes, skis). For shock absorption purposes, a wide variety of materials are used - polyurethane foam, nylon, etc. To provide additional rigidity when attaching mobility aids, steel sheets of 1 - 2 mm thickness, coated with some kind of material, are used.For external finishing, regular and reverse leather, nubuck (boiled leather with very small pile), and CORDURA are actively used. It is apparently not necessary to explain why leather and nubuck are widely used in the external finishing of boots, but it is worth saying a few words about the material called CORDURA. This material has high strength, does not stretch well, and does not “tan” in the cold. I would like to note that quite often you can see on the label of boots an inscription that they are made of suede, but we want to disappoint you - not a single model of tourist or city boots is made of suede - it is a very thin and expensive material.
In addition to finishing, hiking boots should also have a lining that would ensure a comfortable temperature. The main material used for these purposes is Thinsulate, an invention of 3M. The excellent thermal insulation properties of this lightweight material are ensured by the combination of thin (2-5 microns) polyester and polyolefin fibers in its composition, which brings the structure of Thinsulate closer to the structure of natural down. The company produces a wide range of different versions of this material for different purposes. Thus, Thinsulate B is a compression material with increased resistance to strong compression, which is precisely used in winter and sports shoes; Thinsulate Flex - a material that stretches in all directions, which is used for sewing clothes, gloves, etc.; Thinsulate Lite Loft is the lightest and most compressible material used for sewing sleeping bags.An option for easy insulation of a boot can be the placement of a mesh between the outer and inner lining of the boot, which will create a heat-insulating layer. But this option is only suitable for cases of light frosts, and not severe frosts.
Good footwear that protects the foot is needed not only when hiking in low temperatures, and therefore materials are used in the lining of the boots to wick moisture away from the foot, i.e. allowing your feet to breathe. In our country, this type of material is called membrane (in the West they are called breathable). These materials came into tourist equipment from astronautics. The first material with a membrane was GORE-TEX (Gore-Tex), used in the spacesuits of American astronauts; now other materials with a membrane (ComfortTex, SimpaTex) or special breathable impregnation (South Korean company HI-PORA) have already appeared. What is a membrane and why is it needed? The membrane is a thin porous fabric made of a hydrophobic polytetrafluoroethylene polymer located between the outer and inner lining of the boot. It contains about two billion microscopic pores per square centimeter. The size of one pore is many times smaller than the size of a drop of water, which makes the membrane impermeable to rain; on the other hand, the size of the pore is larger than the size of water molecules, which allows moisture to escape in the form of steam. This has its pros and cons: the throughput of the membrane is limited, and no matter how hard you try, even in clothes made of membrane material you will still sweat. In addition, in the cold, the evaporation, without having time to escape, can freeze, the membrane becomes covered with ice and stops breathing. That is why all companies also produce models without membrane lining - especially for hikes, in which heat preservation is a top priority. The use of membrane materials in boots does not solve another problem that often arises not only while hiking, namely the problem of unpleasant odor from shoes and feet. The fact is that the bacteria that create this smell and the “aromatic” molecules themselves do not evaporate through the pores of the membrane - they are too large for these pores. And one more question that probably interests everyone - “What breathes better - leather or membrane material?” In fact, they breathe about the same; the only advantage of membrane materials is their lighter weight compared to leather. Therefore, a pair of boots made of synthetic materials with a membrane lining will be lighter than a similar one made of leather.Alpine boots
The first in our short story will be boots designed for high-altitude hiking. These boots consist of two parts. The outer part of the boot is made of impact-resistant plastic and is designed to protect the foot from external damage and rigidly fix the foot (this is essential when overcoming slippery surfaces or skiing). For ease of walking, this plastic shell is divided into a kind of armor, fastened together with metal rivets. The lacing of the outer shell is organized using small rollers located inside the ears. But such rollers are present only in the latest models; older or cheaper models do not have rollers, but the ears themselves are made larger. Such devices ensure easy lacing of boots even in the cold and when wearing gloves. The soles of such boots have specially made steps for attaching additional means of transportation - for crampons, skis, snowshoes. It should be noted that in addition to the step, the shape of the “lat” also determines the priority of attaching one or another external device - it is more convenient to walk in some boots, while it is more convenient to ski in others. All boots in this class have VIBRAM soles.The outer boot provides only mechanical comfort to the foot, and the inner boot is designed to provide thermal comfort. In addition to providing thermal insulation properties, the inner boot also carries many other responsibilities that are useful for tourists on a hike. For example, in order not to drag the entire snow-covered structure into the tent, the outer part of the boot is left at the entrance, and the inner part is moved around the tent. The inner boot, as a rule, comes in different designs. So, if at the very beginning of the ascent you have to overcome rocky areas, then in order not to carry additional climbing shoes, inner boots are made in the form of high climbing shoes. And for low temperature conditions, insulated versions of inner boots are specially sewn, covered with additional heat-reflecting silver layers.
Insulated mountain boots
The next type of hiking shoes are boots designed for difficult mountain hikes. These insulated boots have much in common with the type described above: they also rigidly fix the foot, they are equipped with a VIBRAM sole, reinforced with a steel plate in the midsole, lacing is often also implemented using a roller system. These boots also have a step for attaching crampons and snowshoes, and some models have cleats built into the sole that can be pulled out when necessary.
But still, this type of boot seems to be lower than the previous one. The thing is that these boots basically do not have an inner insert and therefore are designed for hikes with higher temperatures. Another simplification of this type of boot compared to the first type is that its upper is not made of plastic, but is still made of soft materials - reverse leather, nubuck with an additional shock-absorbing welt around the perimeter of the boot at the level of the middle of the foot, which makes protection from external mechanical influences worse. But, as always, there are no rules without exceptions, and among models of this type there are samples that have characteristics equal to or even superior to double-layer boots, but these shoes are already of a highly specialized nature and will not be described here.
Trekking boots
The next even more simplified type of hiking shoes will be trekking boot models. There is already a wide variation in the design of the inner lining and outer lining of the boot. The choice of model is again determined by the conditions in which the hike will take place, since shoe companies make a variety of models for a variety of conditions. So, for hikes with high humidity, boots are made with membrane linings, made of a solid piece of fabric, for summer hikes - with mesh linings, for winter hiking or cross-country skiing - made of leather or nubuck with additional insulation. As mentioned above, manufacturers put a variety of soles on trekking shoes, but it should be noted that in this class of hiking shoes you can find both boots with Vibram soles and soles of your own production. It’s quite easy to talk about trekking sneakers after talking about trekking boots. The fact is that these shoes are simply a lightweight version of summer trekking boots and are intended for summer hiking over rough terrain or hiking in small low mountains.Author: Sergey Chuksin