Lightweight mountaineering boot with a wide toe box?

jscott: One shouldn’t have to compromise to find the footwear I am looking for. If the manufacturers offered more models without a Goretex/Goretex-ish material, I think the challenge to find a cooler and slightly torsionally stiffer “shoe” would likely be met.

It seems the greater consumer “demand” is for waterproof shoes. That is opposite of what I want

Johnny Mikes:

Today I tried another Topo Model, the Ultraventure.  This has similar fit and stack height to the Trailventure.  It is a regular height shoe and not waterproof.  Fit was good although I did use a heel lock lacing for descents.  I have a ball of foot issue that was a bit less protected with this shoe than the Trailventure, likely because the Ultraventure lacks a rock plate.  If you don’t have issues like mine, it seems that this shoe would work just fine on the rocky terrain that I frequent.  I expect this will become my go to daily show to replace my totally destroyed Altra Timps, but may also do double duty for summer hikes.  By the way, I would not use the Timps for the trails I hike–inadequate foot protection.

I think that ‘mountaineering boots’, by definition, are designed for alpine areas where crampon fitment, and thus snow, are a constant – explaining the popularity of a waterproof membrane.

Mountaineering footwear for non-alpine use is an approach shoe, if I have the marketing definitions correct.

Stiff boots can be found without a waterproof membrane – the Scarpa SLM3 wide

Stiff shoes can be found without a waterproof membrane – the Salewa Mountain Trainer.

If you aren’t fitting crampons I am not sure why you would need such a stiff sole. If you are fitting crampons I am not sure why you would not want the boot to be waterproof, unless it is short passes that you are crossing – I guess that would make sense.

I should go back and check the OPs post to see exactly what he was after….

Addit: he was after:

‘Ideally, they’d be light, waterproof and hybrid crampon compatible, but I’m willing g(sic) to compromise some of those qualities for a wide toe box.’

Johnny wants boots that are waterproof–but not goretex; hybrid crampon compatible and a mountain boot–but not stiff; light–but all of the above. with a wide toe box. He may or may not want to compromise on some of this.

the thing is, manufacturers don’t put a run of boots into production and make them available everywhere based on one persons needs and desires. So, indeed, we all compromise.

Nick: We’re on the same wavelength. (Hey, a WP shoe sounds great to the average person, no?) And I can’t help wonder if the 20 bucks or whatever extra WP costs isn’t also helping the manufacturers wrt relative profit per shoe.

Stephen: Thanks for the additional info but a decent rock plate is a must for me given my frequent alpine off-trail use.

Sean P: Thanks for the suggestion re the Salewa Mtn Trainer. I’ll have to root around and see if any shop in a town near me has them so I can have a look and give the sole a twist. (Salewa is not a widely carried brand around here.) I can’t tell from the pic if they have leather on them or not (prefer not).

jscott: Apologies if my my admitted topic drift last month confused things in relation to the OP’s search and perhaps my first post and the OP are now conflated somehow. But for the record, I myself never said I was looking for crampon compatible etc as you say in your last post. And my comment that – IMHO – there are not enough shoes made without Goretex-y (ie too damn hot) stuff stands. Hopefully the pendulum will someday swing back to the middle a bit wrt choice.

Thanks folks. This has been helpful. I’ll be checking out the Topos that Stephen suggested earlier and the Salewas mentioned by Sean – those are the kinds of suggestions (wrt a brand I had not heard of or a locally uncommon brand (whether it works out for me or not)) that are exactly the kind of advice I was hoping to find here. Ciao!

Hi Johnny,

I suggested the leather Salewa Mountain Trainers because in your first post you specified that you wanted leather footwear. In fact you specified boots but now it appears you want non-leather shoes with a torsionally stiff sole.

What exactly do you want?

I saw the Salewa Moubtain Trainer shoes in a store today.

They are definately not suited for kicking steps in snow. The sole just is not stiff enough for that.

Hiking and mountaineering are two different things.

In case anyone followed up on my discussion of the Topo Athletics Trailventure.  Here is an update.  I have had them about 6 weeks.  They might have 180 miles of hiking in the local mountains.  The Vibram sole has split on each shoe.  There is at least one seam failure in the uppers.   These shoes checked a lot of boxes for me, but longevity is not one of them.  I will be returning this to REI. The search continues.

I’ve been looking for this boot for years, and Scarpa Ribelle HD is my new go-to light mountaineering boot.  It has a heavily rockered sole, so it hikes like a much softer boot.  It has a wide forefoot (I’m eeee width and only had to go up 1 full size extra to get them to fit) narrow heel (not super tight) and a medium volume instep.

It has an Outdry membrane, which I find to be significantly better then Goretex. In both gloves and boots that I have.

The biggest negative is the weight,  I’ve moved up from approach shoes, so for the first few days they seemed heavy.  But I dont notice that anymore and regularly grab them instead of my approach shoes, even for fairly mellow hikes with the kids.  They are a fraction of the weight of my old plastic boots.

Forgot to mention, during the six weeks, the the vibram lugs wore down more than 50%.

As they wore, the traction for descending become pretty sketchy.  It turns out the front lugs are molded on the front side with front facing slope and on the back side, are cut vertically.  This provides good traction when ascending but less traction when descending.  I looked at some other shoes with vibram soles and the lugs are cut vertically on front and back, thereby providing, I suspect, good traction for both ascending and descending.  Some midsole lugs and all rear lugs are cut vertically on the front side with some slope on the back side.

Here are some photographs.

Yikes! Thanks for the heads-up on the durability of the Topos Stephen.

I can also recommend the Mammut Nordwand Light Mid: I wear an 11 E in my Alden dress shoes and a 12 in it fits me well. And it isn’t a full size larger than the 11 either since it’s a European boot, which tends a bit on the shorter side.

I just joined to add to the wide boot thread:

Look at AKU Superalp NBK LTR, all leather no goretex boots for the member looking for such boots. Not available in North America, but you van get them on line from Europe.

I have very wide feet, and I have found that the la sportiva g2sm fits my feet very well with room in the toe box. I’ve tried a few of the Scarpa gaitered boots and have found they almost seemed more narrow.

I find it hard to conceive of that La Sportiva G2 as “very wide”. Perhaps we should quantify what we mean by “wide”?

For example, I consider myself to have a very wide forefoot.

My feet are just under 11″ long, about 5″ wide and 11.25″ circumference at the ball. In common terms, the front of my foot is about a EEEEE, and my heel is a D, at about a US 9.5 in length. I will spare you a photo, but suffice to say it doesn’t look anything like those shoes.

My toes have a healthy spread: the big toe is in a straight line from heel through ball to tip of toe, with no hallux valgus.

The closest thing I’ve found to fit in mainstream shoes is a wide Meindl boot, but it’s not a particularly healthy fit.

If Ian’s feet, or those of others in this thread, are more like mine then they’re not going to get much joy from a boot like the Scarpa Ribelle, which has a 3:1 length to width ratio (my feet are closer to 2:1, and the G2 is 3.2:1!), and a prominent toe taper:

@ Stephen Seeber

Forgot to mention, during the six weeks, the the vibram lugs wore down more than 50%.

The Vibram sole has split on each shoe.  There is at least one seam failure in the uppers.   These shoes checked a lot of boxes for me, but longevity is not one of them.

I’ve had the exact same experience with my Topo Mtn Racers. Now on my 3rd pair since this past May. Thank God I purchased from REI. The life expectancy to cost ratio for these are terrible

Richard N

Thank you for your input, what do you prefer to wear for a crampon compatible, double, 6000 meter mountaineering boot? I’m always looking for other options since I have had great difficulty myself in finding boots that fit with adequate width for comfort.

I’ve got 100-ish miles on my new Crispi Thors and all is good, these will be my new hunting boots for next fall.

The toe box is great room wise, it’s also pretty stout as well- no worries about toeing a rock.  The mid-foot is not quite as snug as I’d like, but heavier socks and the addition of some insoles cured that.  The heel locks in nicely.

They have a dozen+ different models to choose from and are offered in wide sizes as well.  Their “regular” is pretty wide, so only consider the wide sizes if you have really wide feet.

Hey Mike,

Would you even consider them for backpacking or are you going to just use them for hunting?

I was looking at the Thor and Summit. Are those rubber rands around the toe box?

I’m often backpacking when hunting, so yes :)

Typically though in “summer” I’m in trail runners.  If I was planning something with a lot of off trail and/or a lot of rough country, I might be grabbing for these.

Yup rubber rand around the toe box.

I tried on a pair of Summits too, but they were too loose in the midfoot for me; even snugging them up they were still loose.  If your foot happens to be wide the full length, then they could certainly work.

Thanks, good to know on the Summits. I’m wide in the front, narrow in the back

Mike,

Those look really nice. Think they will be good for 56er country?

Dude- they were designed by a 56’er! :)

not super light though, they (Crispi) have a approach looking shoe that might work???

Nope, they done discontinued that shoe buddy

Nope, they done discontinued that shoe buddy

this is the one I was talking about, the Attiva

https://www.crispius.com/attiva-trail-runner