Trying out a gear review entry for an upcoming SUL blog I'm working on. What do you all think?
First impressions: Arcteryx new footwear
In the summer of 2014, the buzz read: Arcteryx is entering the footwear market. In the technology world that would be like… Apple… umm… designing a… watch. Crazy. Crazy amazing? Crazy, i.e., too much of a good thing? A company known solidly for its outerwear going into the unknown?
Enter spring 2015. Boston's Tannery got a good-sized shipment of dead bird's new footwear line today. So I went over and spent some time testing the brand new low cut Acrux and high top Bora hiking boots. The verdict? It's a thoughtful (almost academically so) and ballsy first try. The bad news: read on.
First, the colors. These are just spectacular. The red is good. In fact, so freakishly good it would fit better in the halls of MoMA than an outdoor gear shop. It could redefine the Canadian flag itself. The additional, meticulously matched hues of browns, deep greens and even deeper blues work together in a wheel of Bahaus-worthy color harmony.
The removable liners are the most comfortable things I've tried on my feet in more than three decades. Only home cotton socks come close second. Walking in the insulated, low and high liners feels like your foot just met a soulmate. No pun intended. It's foot heaven.
The spoiler.
All is well in the cosmos until you decide to put those heavenly liners back inside the Arcteryx mothership. (aka, the outer boot). This unfortunate act teleports you straight down to the purgatory. The GoreTex membrane-covered liners and the tank-like outer shells seem like they have been designed by two countries at war. (The shells were hand-crafted by Putin.) The toe box is tiny, the fit is just plain bizarre and they actually FEEL like a dead bird while walking.
For overall fit, the Bora high tops are way better than Acrux lows. Bora's genius detail is in its ankle fastener. It locks your foot not just in one, but two spots – the ankle and the shin, much like a good, used hockey skate would. However, that same locking mechanism is also what feeds the fires of the purgatory – it strangles the ankle like a vice each and every time. In their current state, these boots would be great for a less than a 50 yard walk in pretty much any natural or unnatural environment. Mars included.
In conclusion, get the liners separately. Avoid the boots. Insert the liners into your favorite upsized trail runners (innov8 Roclites for me) and double duty them as camp shoes. Then, wait for the 2.0. These are not ready for human consumption just yet. But your kids are gonna love them.
