Alpine boots for kids

[B Deleted_Beck]

Howdy

 

What have you been sticking on your young alpinists' feet?

 

Thanks,

 

-Ben

[Bergretter]

What age child are you referring to? My 5 y/o will only tolerate comfy keen style boots! He climbs rock better than me in 'em but we haven't tackled much inclined snow yet.

[Joa]

The kids and I just climbed Shasta last week (10/11/13 yrs old). I wanted something light, waterproof, didn't give them blisters, and that could be used with light crampons.

 

I ended up going with light, waterproof hikers (Keen, Eddie Bauer, etc.) and they worked great. With gaiters our feet stayed mostly dry until the end (~3000' of glissading) and none of us got blisters or even hot spots in 14,500' of climb/descent.

 

We brought Stubai ultralight crampons but ended up not using them, but during the fit checks on the boots they seemed to work very well and of course are light, which is key for kids.

 

BTW we plan to use the same setup on Rainier later this summer. My days of climbing in my plastic boots are over except for very technical routes that require rigid crampons.

 

ABTW...Stubai is amazing. I have size 15 feet and their crampons were too short and after a quick email they shipped me a new set of longer bars in a few days for free.

Edited June 13, 2013 by Joa

[DPS]

 

light, waterproof hikers (Keen, Eddie Bauer, etc.)... we plan to use the same setup on Rainier later this summer.

 

You may want to rethink that. Rainier is a different animal than Shasta.

[Joa]

No worries there- have lots of experience on Rainier and know the challenges.

 

But on to the kiddos... IMO it's very important for them to use lightweight boots that are comfortable and don't cause blisters. They won't be doing any front pointing for these types of hikes so there's no real reason for stiff and heavy boots.

 

(same reason our family hikes/climbs/ultralight-backpacks in lightweight shoes for rock and dirt trails)

[B Deleted_Beck]

I actually just had him not lace up the ankle on his snowboard boots.. worked!