La Sportiva Nuptse

After hiking for years with old-school leather hiking boots in winter, it was time for a change. No amount of thick double socks kept my feet warm so I invested in these boots. What a difference! It took a few tries to get the size right, but after the process of elimination and some trial walking, these boots fit perfectly!

They are comfortable with no rubbing and the quality of workmanship is outstanding. There is an inner bootie and an outer shell. The outer shell is stiff enough to work with crampons, but flexible enough that you can walk fairly normally. The only problem I had, La Sportiva already considered, which was lacing them up: the stiff-ish shell resists tightening the laces when you're putting them on, but luckily the lace hooks have a special design that doesn't let the laces back out once you tighten them. Problem solved (after you muscle the laces to the desired tightness).

My friend uses boots shell boots with skiboot style hook fasteners, but I prefer laces so chose this boot. They are ready for crampons, and kept my feet absolutely toasty in deep snow. Snow rolls off and water never gets in since they have a plastic shell. Still, my feet never got 'moist'. The inner boot is nicely breathable. Got stuck in a snowstorm and ended up hiking several hours back out with no foot complaints. I love 'em!

These boots are great fitting and allow you to bend just enough in the ancle so you stay in control but are very comfortable. Great traction and crampons hold very well also. They fit like gloves as all La Sportiva boots do.