Salomon X-ultra Mid GTX Boots

     I am slowly transitioning my gear to be lighter weight where it makes sense.  I am not an ultralight nut, but even when I was a kid, I wondered why hiking boots were so massively heavy with the full leather uppers soaked in dubbin and the 1 inch thick vibram soles.  I transitioned to the light hiker mid boots a decade ago and went through two pairs of Lowa Renegades.  They were awesomely comfortable right out of the box, except for they could have been just a tad wider for my toes, especially while wearing multiple socks.  They were some of the lightest boots around when I first started using them, but now they are heavy for what they are.  There’s no need for the uppers to by all full leather, when there’s the GTX membrane under them.  Boots were made from leather initially because there was no Gore-Tex, and the leather was meant primarily for waterproofing, and remotely secondarily for wear resistance, but there’s not much need for leather on boots today in my opinion.  It also does not have a good toe cap and the sole starts separating from leather upper when wet.  Being a good designer means to question and scrutinize every detail of a design and material choices, and change that if it isn’t optimal .  The same goes for being a consumer, blindly picking something because you like the brand or something looks cool is a stupid thing to do.    Think about how and why you use things while you make conscious choices for your gear and you will be happier for it.

     In any case, last year I badly needed some new boots for my trip to Borneo as the seams had exploded on my Lowa Renegades near the toe box.  I initially went to MEC and got some Salomon 4D GTX boots.  They looked like good sturdy boots and would be very comfortable, but when I got home, I started thinking about them more, and they were just massive and overkill for what I need.  They are the same weight as my renegades, higher rise and looked like they would be quite hot when walking around the jungles and streets of Kota Kinabalu or the jungles.  They look like they would be good for heavy duty expeditions with high backpack loads but that’s not what I needed.

I went back to MEC to return the Salomon 4D boots and got some Keen Gypsum boots because that was almost the only thing they had in the range I needed and my size.  I have found these to be not too bad.  They are still heavy with a good amount of needless leather in the uppers, and too much ankle padding.  The lace design also makes it difficult to cinch the boots firmly to my foot for some reason.  There are some good things - the toebox is large and my feet don’t feel cramped.  My main reason for needing to get new boots is that the 10.5 size is slightly too short for my feet and hammer my big toes.  In fact the toenails on both my big toes don’t grow properly any more from years of smashing my toes on the front of my ski boots and hiking boots.  In any case, I need new boots this year.

     The range of boots on the market has literally exploded recently and is very confusing to anyone buying a boot/shoe for outdoor use.  There’s everything from barefoot hiking shoes to expedition mountaineering boots.  The area of the light hikers/trail runners has seen the most growth, but I still can’t tell the difference between some models even offered by the same company, some look exactly the same.   I just thought of, and looked for what I needed in a boot. 

     I have strong ankles, so support really isn’t needed much for myself.  I prefer to have a GTX liner – true, open mesh breathes much, much better, but I don’t want to be tiptoeing around muddy areas on the trail like a princess or else getting a muddy soaker.   I do like a higher boot to keep out sand and pebbles out of my shoe, and also increase the soaker resistant depth for water crossings.  A slightly higher boot also reduced banging my ankle on rocks as I make my way through rocky areas.  I want something light, that does not have a leather upper  - as I mentioned earlier leather uppers are unnecessarily heavy, and they don’t dry quick either.  I also didn’t want those thin quick laces as seen on many runners nowadays, I don’t trust them for multi day hikes.   This blog entry from Freelance Trekker isn't a fan of them at all.  I also want proper laces so I can tie them tight for downhills. 

So, I ended up with the Salomon X-Ulta Mid GTX.  A light runner like shoe/boot hybrid with minimal leather in the upper, small toe cap and a slightly higher upper than a runner, and a waterproof breathable GTX liner.  Perfect… I think.  As always, I look forward to testing my new piece of gear and will report back for a longer term test after I get some use out of them.

Links:

Salomon X-Ultra Mid GTX