Walking boots

[garynortheast]

I decided it was time to replace my walking boots. The soles of my old Scarpa Ranger GTX boots are worn out after 6 years of hard use, the Scarpa Boreas boots never lasted long with the soles wearing out at the heels, and the boots letting in water. I bought a pair of Grisport Pyke boots earlier this year, and while they are very comfortable they are neither suitable for serious days in the mountains, nor waterproof (despite the little metal label on them that says "Waterproof").

I was looking for another pair of the Scarpa Ranger GTX, but the price for the latest version is now over £200 generally. The cheapest I could find a pair was £187. While I was looking about I came across a pair of the Scarpa SL Activ boots on Ebay. These are Scarpa's flagship 4 season mountain boots, and they go for anything up to £300+ new. The ones on ebay were being sold by a chap who had bought them new, worn them for 15 miles and decided they didn't suit his feet. They photos were very detailed and showed them as being almost like new. He was asking £170 for them, more than £30 less than a full price pair of the Rangers, so I took a chance on them.

I will say, I am not disappointed! They are, to all intents and purposes, a brand new pair of top quality mountain boots. There is absolutely no visible wear on the soles, and the leather uppers are completely unmarked.

Freshly cleaned and re-proofed.



I've done a local walk in them and they may need a bit of breaking in, but we shall see how they are tomorrow. Sioned is on her way over and we're walking up Arenig Fawr in the morning.

Some mountain pictures will be incoming on Tuesday!

[garynortheast]

Well, that didn't go as planned. Sioned and I set off for Arenig Fawr and got half way down the track to the bothy when it started raining. Sat in the bothy for half an hour and had a cuppa, took another look at the summit wreathed in cloud and rain, and came away again. Damn! Pretty disappointing, but I know what it's like up there when the weather is poor, and given our experience three weeks or so back, we weren't keen to repeat it.

Hoping we'll get some better weather next week for our big hike down from Harlech to y Bermo. 🤞

[admin]

That's a shame, the wind doesn't help either. How did the boots feel?

[garynortheast]

The boots are good thanks John. They were rubbing my left heel slightly the first time I wore them but they seem to have shaped themselves to my foot now, so not really rubbing anymore. Overall, I'm very pleased with them. I'll wear them a few more times before the hike next week.

[embee]

Nice when something works out well, hope the boots bed in nicely.

It reminds me I must get round to having my walking boots resoled. I went up to the Altberg factory in Richmond many many (20?) years ago and bought a pair of their boots, I can't even begin to work out how many miles they've done. At the same time I ordered a pair of their Clubman Classic bike boots which are still going strong.
The soles on the walking boots have just worn out but the uppers are absolutely fine still. They used to do a full re-furb service but as usual some folk used it to take up disputes with them when they got back some re-furbed boots and not a brand new pair which they thought they ought to be entitled to (some folk really pi** me off). Altberg withdrew the re-furb service (not worth the hassle) now just do a re-sole service, still well worth the money if the uppers are good.