Vasque Clarion

fourth year on hi-peaks, many in winter. they see a lot of use in hunting season too. the weight ok for a heavy duty boot. mine are not gore-tex but will stay quite dry w/ waterproofing. the gore-tex are a bit tighter feeling than mine. great bite on bare rock. hold instep crampons well too. my wife's got the all-leather ones and work well but have seen less use. broke one lace 3 years in. great boot for someone with WIDE/BIG feet (12EEE) See scott's reveiw. I was blowing out 2 pairs of hi-tek sierras a year! the fit well but couln't hang in the tuff stuff. The vasques are real warm too. go get some, i've seen them on sale for under$100.

I didn't use these boots. A crewman of mine did. Our job involved backcountry lake surveys done as 10-day field trips. This involved extensive daily hiking in rocky and swampy areas. These boots were terrible. My crewman's feet were so chewed up he was nearly unable to work for a period. After about 6 weeks (3 trips) the soles were separating from the uppers and the stitches were working in several places. These boots were not up to the task.