Boots or trail shoes?

[Dustin_B]

What do you wear when doing a glacier climb with a long approach (15-20 miles or more) such as Olympus, Challenger, etc? Do you: a) wear your mountaineering boots the entire way and suffer the pain; b) wear trail shoes on the approach and carry your boots (hopefully they’re light) for the glacier; c) wear trail shoes the whole time (I can’t imagine this being much fun on the glacier/snow) ; or d) wear lighter, more comfortable (possibly waterproof) hiking boots the whole time including the glacier portion (this would seem better than option c))??? For c) or d), what about when it gets technical and you really need some good stiff boots. Did I cover all possibilities? I’d like to know what you do??

 

Last summer I climbed Olympus (40-45 miles roundtrip) and wore my mountaineering boots the whole time. They are pretty comfortable, generally, but I can’t imagine a pair of boots being comfortable after 3-4 days and that many miles. My feet were really hurting by the end. Should I just get use to the pain on such climbs? Generally its not much of a concern for the ~12 mile or less approaches, I just wear my boots; it’s the longer approaches that I don’t have a system for and that I’d be interested in trying something else out. gracias

 

[JoshK]

I'd definitely wear trail shoes for something with that much of an approach. hell, I take trail shoes for glacier peak, where I can where them for the first 5 miles to the hot springs then cache them. on something that is easy snow I may even just wear them up the glacier and deal with the lack of support and possibly wet feet.

[Coopah]

Good question and timely too since I am doing Olympus July 4 weekend. I have been wondering the same thing and have contemplated wearing my low top trail shoes the majority of the flat approach and then slapping on my mtn boots for the tech portion of the climb. That also means I am carrying an additional 5 pounds on my back...a dilemma indeed!

[cj001f]

Dustin_B said:My feet were really hurting by the end. Should I just get use to the pain on such climbs?

 

Instead of getting used to the pain - get new boots! Seriously, unless you use your boots once or twice a year, or use really crappy socks (buy some smartwools!) your feet shouldn't hurt!

 

My ankles are too week to use approach shoes with any kind of pack, so I go with lightweight hiking boots.

 

[Rodchester]

There are sooo many versions of what I would call mid-weight/duty boots out there that are really comfortable and are still crampon compatable. These are fine for basic glacier climbs on smaller mountains like Olympus.

 

My wife and I each have a pair of the leather and synthetic Tecnicas that we got from PMS (Jim Nelson) that are lightweight, really comfortable, and take new-matic style crampons. No need for old fashioned waffle-stomper style mountaineering boots anymore, at least on the lower peaks.

 

PMS - Boots

 

Look at the Ascend and the Dunagiri. The Pioner and the Odyssey are also good ones, but are a bit light and only take strapon crampons.

 

The Ascends as I can attest to. I have used them on long ass approaches. I wore them right out of the box while trekking the Shira plateau and to the summit of Kilimanjaro with no blisters and in comfort. It was an 9 day trip.

 

 

I like shoes for sinlge day approaches to alpine rock climbs. But I like the support of a boot for longer approaches with a heavy pack and would rather go with comphie mid-duty boots that wear shoes and carry a pair of heavy ass wafflestompers.

 

2 cents

[thelawgoddess]

i took trail shoes for olympus, and it was probably my most loved piece of gear for that trip. i can't even imagine what my feet would have looked and felt like if i'd done the hike in and out in my mountaineeing boots!

[lummox]

i dint buy a bunck of shoes so i could leave em at home. id one climbs like you ask about where i wore running shoes on the trail and boots on the snow and ice.

[Bronco]

I've got some gtx trail shoes and mini gaiters that RULE! I'll use whatever excuse I can come up with to wear them on approaches and carry my boots as far as absolutley possible. It's fun to grind out a 5 mile approach in the middle of the night and still feel like dancing a jig when you get to the climb because your legs feel so fresh while your partners are complaining about being tired.

[Beck]

lightweight shoes are the way to go, you'll be so refreshed versus wearing your boots...

 

on a recent ski traverse trip, when i got back to wear i could wear my shoes again, i jogged for fourty five minutes with my backpack, carrying skis and boots, because i could, and my feet felt so good at the end of the trip, versus wearing boots the whole time.

[Dustin_B]

Beck said:

lightweight shoes are the way to go, you'll be so refreshed versus wearing your boots...

 

This is what I am leaning towards for my trip. My boots only weigh 3.5 lbs so it shouldn't break my back too bad when I have to strap them on the pack.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone. You guys are the tops

[Dustin_B]

cj001f said:

Dustin_B said:My feet were really hurting by the end. Should I just get use to the pain on such climbs?

 

Instead of getting used to the pain - get new boots! Seriously, unless you use your boots once or twice a year, or use really crappy socks (buy some smartwools!) your feet shouldn't hurt!

 

My ankles are too week to use approach shoes with any kind of pack, so I go with lightweight hiking boots.

 

My boots are very broken in and I wear them, on average, every other weekend this time of year. I can't imagine technical mountaineering boots being any more comfortable for short to moderate approaches. I'm very interested to hear what kind of mountaineerng boots you have that are still comfortable after 45 miles though. seriously! will you share? And I already wear smartwool, exclusively. they rock. thanks,

[cj001f]

Dustin_B said:

My boots are very broken in and I wear them, on average, every other weekend this time of year. I can't imagine technical mountaineering boots being any more comfortable for short to moderate approaches. I'm very interested to hear what kind of mountaineerng boots you have that are still comfortable after 45 miles though. seriously! will you share? And I already wear smartwool, exclusively. they rock. thanks,

 

I have a pair of Vasque k2 clones. I've never had a blister(except for the time I wore cotton dress socks!) - and since I added footbeds, I've never had any pain in my feet. Maybe it's me - but I just don't have problems with my feet hurting from boots (including some 20+ mile days in them). YMMV

[micajones]

cj001f said:

Dustin_B said:

My boots are very broken in and I wear them, on average, every other weekend this time of year. I can't imagine technical mountaineering boots being any more comfortable for short to moderate approaches. I'm very interested to hear what kind of mountaineerng boots you have that are still comfortable after 45 miles though. seriously! will you share? And I already wear smartwool, exclusively. they rock. thanks,

 

I have a pair of Vasque k2 clones. I've never had a blister(except for the time I wore cotton dress socks!) - and since I added footbeds, I've never had any pain in my feet. Maybe it's me - but I just don't have problems with my feet hurting from boots (including some 20+ mile days in them). YMMV

 

I've got a pair of Vasque H2's too. I can do 15-20 mi a day with no problem. Those boots is the bomb. Mine are EE for extra width, so when the dogs swell up there's plenty of room left. I wear a thin nylon sock under thin smartwools. Never a foot problem. Worth every penny they were.

[skyclimb]

I go for light running shoes for the approaches. I have strong ankles as well. I figure the amount of work i am doing moving my feet with that much wieght is way more work than carrying the weight on my back. I don't just figure that, it is a fact.RUNNING SHOES