[joker]

Steve - do you know if any retailers anywhere near Pugetopolis carry that boot you are using? Looks like one I should check out. My experience with GTX lined boots aligns with your claims and I'm tired of getting new boots fairly frequently.

[DIYSteve]

[North Cascades]

Keep an eye on prices. I've seen them go for as low as 200 bucks on Amazon occasionally.

[Mikey]

DIYSteve Many thanks for your recommendation of the all leather non-GTX Scarpa SL Active boot. I wear my Lowa Renegade boots often when not hiking because they are comfortable and I think wearing a heavier shoe/boot strengthens my leg muscles. I prefer an all leather non-GTX boot but they are not easy to find. Although my present Lowa Renegrades are holding up, I am thinking about getting the Scarpa SL Active boot via Amazon after trying on the Scarpa Charmoz boots which REI carries. Good comfortable hiking boots are essential.

[coldrain108]

I found Alico Backcountry boots to fit my feet perfectly. 10.5, 2E, fit like they were made just for me. Comfortable right out of the box. I wear Keen shoes for everyday wear, wide toe box. Full leather, no GTX - why would a treated leather boot need GTX? Mesh boot/shoes maybe, but not well treated leather. The perfect meeting point of light weight and sturdy support. I found them very sure footed when crossing boulder fields, not just a rocky sections of a trail but full on off-trail boulder hopping. My break-in hike was to the top of Vesper. I also found them unusually comfortable on a 10+ mile valley bottom march to the parking lot, very little flop foot. I use superfeet green as my foot bed. Trick is only Sierra Trading Post seems to sell them and they are not always in stock. So I bought a second back-up pair, but the original pair are now 3 season old and showing no signs of falling apart. Very inexpensive, 150$ - even less as STP usually has everything on sale at some point. Made in Italy. I gave a pair to my wife for her birthday, she loved the Italian shoes. Her's will last forever. I usually go through boots in one season, especially lighter weight ones, but these just keep getting better. Obenauf's is the magic substance, softens up the boots so they will mold to your feet, mine are still water proof even though I need to re-apply as they look a bit scuffed.

[HitTheTrail]

Hmmm...The Scarpa SL Active look very similar to Asolo 520's. Can anyone point out any critical differences (since I already have several pair of 520's).

[Ski]

[DIYSteve]

[RichP]

I'm on my third pair of SL Activ's and I think it's an awesome boot. I just purchased a pair in Jan (winter prices are better) from Backcountry.com for no other reason than it was the cheapest price on the internets at the time. $230.00 including tax.

[ozzy]

Ive been rockin the solomon quest 4d s, lightweight and rigid. Tried other boots briefly but always go back to the solomons. Never had any blisters. No break in period required, they are ready right outta the box. They are very grippy as well. Only negative i see is that i go through one pair every season. A fair trade off seeing as they are only $230.

[Dante]

Treewalker, what will these be used for? What kind of hiking do you do. As Steve noted, not everyone needs a lot of torsional stiffness. Depending on your use case, there may be more options. For example, I got the best fitting shoes and boots I've ever owned from Russell Moccasin. They aren't "hiking boots" per se, but lots of hunters use them. Lately I've been doing most of my hiking in THESE. They aren't "hiking boots" but they work very well for the kind of on trail and off trail hiking I do. They fit well, are very water resistant when treated properly, and they are unlined so they dry quickly if/when they do get wet inside. Lead time will be an issue with custom boots. September sounds like plenty of time, but it may or may not be. Another option (if you haven't already tried this) is to try on boots from as many different manufacturers as you can. Footwear manufacturers use different lasts (the form around which the boot or shoe is made). The Munson last and Alden's Berrie last and the last used on the boots I'm currently using for hiking (linked above) all fit me almost as well as my made to measure Russell footwear has.

[DIYSteve]

[HitTheTrail]

This whole discussion needs to be tied to each individual's goal. Mine is to find a pair of boots that will allow me to continue to hike with the least amount of foot pain. I currently own around 9 pairs of hiking boots and four or five trail runner type shoes. In the past few years I have probably gone thru at least 20 pairs of boots, some after only wearing them a few times. Wildernessed and I have the same shoe size so we do a lot of trading and swapping of boots and trail shoes. I hate to admit this to DYISteve but my old standby go-to boot is the Soloman Quest 4(I have two pairs). I always take them on any outing where I know I will be doing more than about 8 miles. Here is one pair of them

[DIYSteve]

Yo, I did not claim the Quest 4 is not a decent boot. I merely said I wouldn't deem it "rigid," and I'll stand by that.

[joker]

I have similar goals and am currently using that same Salomon boot. But I've had it for almost a year and as usual the problems with GTX are rearing their head. I even took advice of one of Silas' Euro boot designer pals and have been fastidious about keeping my toenails clipped to prevent leaks in the GTX membrane but they do leak a little now and they also no longer breathe very much if at all.