I already own a half-decent pair of walking boots. They’re not great but they’ve mostly been good enough for my purposes the last year or two. Their only major fault is that the insole slides up after about five miles and the edge rubs my toes and that hurts a lot but that’s easily corrected by taking them off and pushing it back up to where it should be. Oh, and they’re not in the least waterproof.
I bought new boots for Iceland. I knew I’d need waterproof ones and after much dithering, I went for a pair of Mammut Nova Women’s GTX. They have pink highlights but they’re otherwise fine. And now I’ve worn them on the Laugavegur Trail and beyond, I can tell you about them.
First of all, yes, they’re waterproof. I got soaked to the skin on day one, in a blizzard, but I don’t remember at any point my feet being cold or wet. They’re fabric boots, not leather, and I hadn’t added any waterproofing to them on the grounds that they’re pretty new and have never been out in the wet yet but they did really well. Five stars for waterproofing. The outside got soaked but left in the boot room overnight, they were bone dry by morning. And that was wearing ordinary cotton Tesco socks underneath. I know I shouldn’t but I’ve never got on with real hiking socks; I’d much rather wear the kind I wear to work, and I had no problems with my feet.
They’re a bit narrow and I was a bit concerned about that but it turns out once they’re on and walked in, they’re foot-hugging rather than foot-crushing. No problem there. They felt good and solid and supportive and comfortable, although I suppose they might have felt far too tight had I worn real hiking socks.
The grip is excellent. They’re meant for relatively rough terrain and the Laugavegur Trail threw quite a lot at them, including a few slightly awkward scrambles. They clung to everything I could possibly give them and at no point did I feel like I was slipping, except when the ground didn’t cling to itself. No matter how well your boots stick to a layer of gravel, if the gravel doesn’t stick to the mountains you’re going to slip. But I can’t blame the boots for that, they did really well.
They lose a couple of points for comfort. When I first wore them, I thought they didn’t feel padded enough under the balls of my feet so I replaced the insoles with gel insoles – which felt even harder than the originals. After a few days, I could definitely feel this hard spot under my feet where it just didn’t give enough. I don’t think they started to cause hotspots but I stuck a couple of compeeds on just in case and that helped because those are a bit squidgy. Maybe I’ll put the original insoles back in next time I wear them and see how they compare to the gel.
Toughness. They have a nice big fat rubber toe bumper but I’d be disappointed it any boots at all failed to protect my toes from knocks and these ones succeeded, of course. No sign of wear on the laces yet. In fact, the laces tie so tightly that whoever took them off me on Monday night when my fingers were too cold to do it myself complained that they were difficult to undo even with functioning fingers. This is a trail that can kill a very heavy expensive pair of leather boots in three years but one trip didn’t inflict any noticeable damage on them at all, other than a layer of grey dust.
And then there’s style. I think they’re good-looking boots. I could do without the pink accents but I recognise that there’s a pink/purple turquoise aisle and a black/red/green aisle in the outdoors shops. They’re a nice shade of dark grey (especially with the new dust on them) and although they’re chunky, they’re also pretty sleek. A lot of Mammut’s stuff has that sleek and clean look.
All in all – yes, I like these boots and I would recommend them. They’re the most expensive boots I’ve ever owned but I acknowledge that these are actually quite cheap boots for someone who knows what they’re doing and I was very pleased with them.
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