Thread: Hiking in AT boots...

How far have you, or would you, hike in AT boots to find snow (think approach)?

Could you use AT boots for mountaineering like you would in Plastics?

Put them on your back and bring hiking boots if your trek is longer than 1 lap on a track. From my experience early and late season creek crossings are the actual reason I put my ski boots on my back.

trail runners/running shoes/sandals pack much better than hiking boots

5 hours including breaks in Tecnica Bodacious (rubber soles but no walk mode). Not sure on distance - Montenvers to Couvercle hut if anyone knows. It was fine, and I'd do it again instead of wearing shoes and carrying my boots on my back.

Hiking boots in your pack should be considered a last resort kind of option. I would suggest stashing them someplace and picking em up on the way down instead. Back to moops's question though - I've done multiple 10 km (one way - 6mi ish) approaches with my old TR9's, and a number of 5 - 8km ish approaches with my scarpa lasers and Zzero 4's. Sure you'll put some wear on the vibram soles, but that's what they're made for right? That and walking many miles on. Taking 2 sets of boots is stupid in my opinion in most cases.


edit - creek crossings notwithstanding.

Originally Posted by BamBam_540

5 hours including breaks in Tecnica Bodacious (rubber soles but no walk mode). Not sure on distance - Montenvers to Couvercle hut if anyone knows. It was fine, and I'd do it again instead of wearing shoes and carrying my boots on my back.

Why? Trail running shoes offer plenty of support. Save your feet and the resole on your AT boots.

^^^ I'm guessing because you walk over a glacier for a decent bit (the Mer de Glace) to get from Montenvers to the Couvercle hut.

My partner pretty much hated life bad when he forgot hiking shoes going in to and out from the Skillet Glacier. If it's more than a piddling distance I carry the ski boots.

Really depends on where I'm going and what I'm doing while there.

I've hiked a couple of miles in my ski boots, and I've carried them on my back and worn light hikers too.

I have the ZZeuss which doesn't have much rocker built into it and are kind of heavy, so not as easy to walk in as some other boots like say the TLT5 or even the ZZero.

I've hiked several miles on trail to get to snow in AT boots. In my opinion, if the trail is fairly even it's not a big deal and is fine, otherwise on rocks/talus it sucks ass since AT boots don't flex like hikers would. Also, make sure your boots fit good, hiking is a different motion than skinning and you'll get blisters if they dont fit right.

Originally Posted by Hugh Conway

^^^ I'm guessing because you walk over a glacier for a decent bit (the Mer de Glace) to get from Montenvers to the Couvercle hut.

Missed that. Now that would make sense.

you could just try levitating like i do. ez pz

i have been known to walk 4200 vert up george on mostly rock with 11lb lange comp 120 with walk ez's. a dynafiddlers fucking absolute nightmare, but it worked just fine.

trailrunners work too

rog

I know people who have used AT boots as mountaineering boots, and have been pleased, although it depends on the boot.

I have scarpa geas and they walk really, really well. I am pretty sure I have walked more than a mile dry in them before, and it didn't bother me, but generally I will carry them on trails/roads if it is going to be more than a mile or so, and then stash the hiking boots to pick up on the way out..

If on snow, as in booting up something too steep to skin, I would much rather be in the AT boots than hiking/light mountaineering boots.

Originally Posted by icelanticskier

i have been known to walk 4200 vert up george on mostly rock with 11lb lange comp 120 with walk ez's. a dynafiddlers fucking absolute nightmare, but it worked just fine.

fucking badass...this hurts mere mortals just thinking about it.

I've walked ~6 miles (in a day to/from skiing, not one push) in both MegaRides and TLT5s at different times, and it's incredibly stupid. Just pack trail runners.

Walked a little over 2 miles in TLT 4S that were wore to a frazzle. Like walking in shoes almost except the soles are still too hard to flex enough to grip worth a damn on steep uneven rocky terrain.

"One pound on your feet is four pounds on your back." Not only is hiking around in your ski boots on dry trails inefficient and unnecessary, but it is hell on your boots. Your buckles will fall off, your soles will deteriorate, your tech fittings will mash and become less reliable.

The energy you save by not slogging about in your ski boots when you're not on snow will far exceed the energy you spend keeping a pound and a half of running shoes in your pack all day. Nobody wears actual hiking boots anymore unless they're going ice climbing, do they?

I once did a winter skin/climb of Mt massive in Colorado. After skinning to the ridge and camping, the next day I walked the entire ridge from above Hagerman pass to the peak, and back in my AT boots. The ridge was completely blown free of snow. Kind of the opposite of the approach shoe usage.

I ran a marathon in my AT boots last week.....after 14 miles my left calf started to hurt. I looked down and noticed I was in ski mode.

Originally Posted by moops

Could you use AT boots for mountaineering like you would in Plastics?

Most certainly you can use them for climbing, but you do lose some ankle flexibility compared to plastics (e.g. old Koflachs's) so French Technique on steep slide slopes is not as comfortable. Choice completely depends on what sort of routes you're doing and what sort of compromises you're happy with.

Hiked in AT boots for 3 miles each way on my approach to climb Whitney last year.. going down sucked. Boots work great with crampons

Originally Posted by Blurred

I ran a marathon in my AT boots last week.....after 14 miles my left calf started to hurt. I looked down and noticed I was in ski mode.

good catch

God, I hate hiking on dirt in AT boots. I got a nasty case of heat exhaustion on a trip most likely because I was hiking for miles on a hot, dusty trail in ski pants and boots, to "save weight". I will never, ever do that again!

AT boots do work great for vertical ice climbing! I didn't have much trouble with the French Technique either. Seemed to be doing fine compared to my partners in plastic mountaineering boots.

Originally Posted by Christopher3000

"One pound on your feet is four pounds on your back."

I don't find this to be true. Most of the time I would rather walk in ski boots than carry them, and the added weight feels more fatiguing on my back than on my feet. This could be adding the weight of the boots to an already heavy load (skis + overnight gear) versus adding the weight of the boots to a not that heavy load of just skis and day tour gear, though.

It depends on what you are walking on, too. Trail runners with no load on a nice smooth trail, then yeah, its going to be wasted energy to have anything heavier on your feet... but if you are dealing with scree, steep side hills, uneven terrain with a heavy pack, the lack of support in the trail runners is going to cause increased fatigue greater than the fatigue from the weight of having some supportive hiking/mountaineering boots.

I have walked a stupid number of miles in my tele boots. Carrying them seems dumb.