[Hiking] Shoe recommendations?

I have Sportiva hiking boots, dont know what model but they are kinda heavy, and are great for real rugged climbing in 3 seasons. I always bring the boots on multi-day hikes- you'd have to be an idiot not to when you are camping and carrying a lot of weight on MOUNTAIN trails, where you will be gaining as much as 8500 vert in a day, up and down traversing etc....

Day hikes, and maybe an easy summer overnight, if I dont bring my tent cause its 6.5 lbs. I would wear some sportiva trail running shoes I just picked up the other day.
 
-OptimusPrime- said:
I don't associate hiking and boots.
I do associate boots with fat slow people who have 65 lb packs on. I see these boyscouts on the trail with so much useless gear its insane. With all the weight and clumbys boots injury is more common.
If you want to travel 20+ miles a day; then good luck with boots. Even the "light" ones.
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are you one of those ultralight people?
Fling :D
 
I have a friend who shaved his toothbrush handle down to save a few ounces, but refuses to leave his 2.5 oz mini-bible at home when we go on back country ski trips.

I told him to buy an ipod and put the bible as read by james earl jones on it (would save an entire ounce)

he didn't laugh, he did it
 
there is a few hikes here

i think that the Presidential Traverse gains 8.5k (White Mountains, NH)

its 19.8 miles, with option peak routes
might have some descent included in that number too, im not sure, ill post an update after i do it this summer. I'll probably do it in 2 days though.
 
Ptavv, what A/T binding-ski setup do you reccommend

the time has come for me to buy a pair so i can ski some backcountry

some friends have told me that Gotama's are a bit heavy to hike with.
 
The highest point in NH is 6,200 some odd feet.

I'm quite certain there is no way you are gaining 8.5k vertical feet in the NE US in a single day, unless you are losing and then regaining it (which doesn't really count).
 
I read the thread and from what I can tell you havn't said what sort of terrain you are going to be dealing with, only that sometimes your feet will be completely soaked. If you are going to be in the mountains, and doing lots of up and down then I would recommend boots. If you are in relatively flat lands, or easy trails, than shoes will be fine. I would say it also matters how heavy your pack is going to be. Heavier the pack, the more likely you will need boots.

How many river crossings a day are we talking here? There is a trail around here, where you cross a river some 40 times in 2-3 days, the terrain around it, is fairly easy, so I hike it in tevas, or shoes. I hike with wet feet too. If you're gonna be mostly dry, but have to make like one crossing a day, I'd just wear boots, and pack tevas in, and change as necessary. Nice to air out your feet at night.
Fling :D
 
How big are you, what do you normally ski on, do you have the coin to drop on some AT bindings, or do you want to convert some existing alpine bindings, etc etc.

Gimme more info man.
 
Ptavv said:
The highest point in NH is 6,200 some odd feet.

I'm quite certain there is no way you are gaining 8.5k vertical feet in the NE US in a single day, unless you are losing and then regaining it (which doesn't really count).
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yeah i am well aware of the mountain i can see out my window being 6,200 feet. You hike:
Mt. Washington (6,288)
Mt. Adams (5774)
Mt. Jefferson (5712)
Mt. Monroe (5384)
Mt. Madison (5367)
Mt. Eisenhower (4761)
Mt. Franklin (5001)
Mt. Clay (5533)
Mt. John Quincy Adams (?)
with some other optional peaks you can go to

I don't see how it doesn't count if you are hiking up and down and regaining elevation. You go from Pt. A to Pt. B, you are still hiking that elevation you just lost again, so techincally you are gaining it.
 
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Ptavv said:
How big are you, what do you normally ski on, do you have the coin to drop on some AT bindings, or do you want to convert some existing alpine bindings, etc etc.

Gimme more info man.
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5'11". 160 lbs.
I ski on 177 Volkl Mantra's right now

My mountain where I hold a pass is Crested Butte, CO. I got some dime to drop on a new pair of ski's and a new pair of AT's. I want something that I can ski aggressively and drop cliffs (<40ft) on.
 
the terrain varies, but there won't be a whole hell of a lot of difficult scrambling.

rivers a day is hard to say because i haven't done this area before. i'm going by word-of-mouth from someone who recommended it, so this will be a totally fresh experience. estimated river a dayx2 (to one location and back). i was told the area can be fairly "strenuous" in positions. this will be somewhat flat with a few ravines to navigate.

like i said earlier in the thread: my pack will not exceed 35lbs.
 
Sorry I disappeared, I had to get lunch and then talk to my boss about some stuff.

First of all, if you want to be dropping cliffs on AT bindings there are really only two choices, and those aren't really even appropriate for dropping 40 footers. Fritschi Freerides (what I have) din up to 12 (plenty high enough for your height/weight), and Naxo 21s which (the new ones) din up to 13 I think.

I prefer the Freerides, some people prefer the Naxos, they're the same thing pretty much except the Naxos have a double pivot in the front which takes getting used to when skinning.

For BC skis, Gotamas are good, as are a myriad of other things. Look for something that's relatively soft in flex, and very round. You won't want your AT setup to be longer than your typical setup (I ski 188 Bro models (from PM Gear and my AT setup are 187 BD Crossbows [my whole quiver is here).

If you're going to be hucking 40 footers on your BC setup, I'd almost say put some 914s or 916s on and get some Trekkers by BCA (google 'BCA Trekker' you'll find them). It'll be a lot heavier, but much more bomb proof. This is also a good route to go if you're not going to buy AT boots. If you're buying AT boots definately go with AT bindings, as AT boots + alpine bindings = do not release.

Another route to go if you're crazy into low weight is Dynafit gear. I don't know much about it because I'm not an ounce counting pussy, but whatever ;)
 
yeah dude, cant really afford another pair of boots, cause i gotta get new ones

i was thinkin to go bigger on the AT setup, cause it would be more wide open terrain. I could go bigger in my in bounds, but there is a lot of tight spots and i like to be able to turn em the other way faster.

why would you say go smaller for back country?
 
You don't want to go bigger on your BC setup because if you get into skiing a couloir or some place you don't want huge skis. My skis are often too long for particularly harry stuff.

You want absolute control in the BC, because a mistake costs you a lot more there than it does in bounds.

You could even mount AT bindings on your Karmas and buy a burly inbounds setup and some trekkers.

Which is probably what I would do if I were you.

I'm considering remounting my Freerides on some shorter sticks, if I can find the right pair of skis to mount them on, I'm not a big fan of my Crossbows, but I got the whole setup for super cheap (skis, bindings, skins).
 
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