Mammut Men's Kento High GTX

Very light, but vulnerable and smelly (?)

I came across this type of shoes in Zermatt and was struck by both its characteristics, and its low price (particularly for Zermatt and Switzerland): 279 CHF/ 253 €. It also stood out by being made of  "old fashioned" one piece leather, while still appearing to be light and compact.

I did not intend to buy new boots, having bought my previous ones only two years before and being pretty satisfied with those. But I seized the opportunity, also hoping to find a better fit than my previous ones.

I have used this pair during three alpine climbs on 4000 meter peaks around there, so they have been tested just long enough to know what to expect.

I will discuss some aspects I noticed, sometimes comparing to my previous pair of boots, Garmont Tower Extreme LX GTX , and my oldest pair, Scarpa Cerro Torre.

• Weight. My pair size 43 weighs 675 grams per boot, which is 100 grams lighter than my already light Garmonts (a great leap from the 1070 grams of my Scarpas). That difference is partially gained from actually making the boot lower (picture) and the sole thinner.
  
  
  
  
• Upper. I liked the boot to be made of one-piece leather just like my Scarpas (except for the tongue), but thinner and lighter. Reason is that it does not have seams, which are weak spots on the Garmonts (I even smeared those to protect them). It also appeals to me to be able to treat them as a whole, instead of being confronted with the more composite Garmonts.
• Fit. As always, very personal. For my fairly slim feet the basic fit seemed good. I hoped my toes would be less tortured while descending than in both my previous pairs. Unfortunately they weren’t. After some use my feet seemed to be sliding too much again while having not enough space in front of them. It is always a problem for me to find slim shoes while not being too small in size.
• Smell. After use they seemed to be unusually smelly. That surprised me, I never noticed that with my similar Garmonts, which are also Goretex lined. And I would even expect the leather Mammuts to breathe better than the synthetic Garmonts. One other factor might be that the shopkeeper said he would spray them before my return to pick them up.
• Protective rand. At one spot part of the rand was coming loose (picture). It turns out that only front and back of the boot’s rand is made of rubber. In between some more plastic like material is used, which is less flexible and gets worked off.
  
  
• Sole. First thing I noticed about them was that parts of the profiles were torn off, or in the process of being so (picture). That’s worrying considering the amount of abuse those will have to withstand, looking at the wear of 10 years on my Scarpas (picture). The difference is that the Vibram profile on the Scarpas is WORN off, while the Michelin profile on the Mammuts is TORN off. The second thing I noticed is the base of the profile sole to be very thin (picture), which explains part of the weight difference. But makes it vulnerable for puncturing and deformation.
  
  
  
  
  

So concluding, pretty good boots for an attractive price. But I worry how long they will last. I consider contacting Mammut about the issues I already have.

Update 1

I did contact Mammut about the issues, referring to this review including the pictures which is a pretty clear story I would think. They insisted on getting the boots sent to them, so I did. It took some weeks for them to get back on it, but they offered to swap for a new pair.

Because I worried that a new pair would suffer the same problems, and I also had some fitting problems, we also discussed other models. But there was no interesting option for me, so I opted for the same model.

The peculiar thing was that they offered me orange or brown ones instead of the blue I had, and preferred. I chose orange, but got brown sent to me. The only colour I did NOT want. I really don’t get that. They are a manufacturer, I imagine they have a warehouse full of all colours and sizes.

I chose to just give them feedback on that, but to keep the pair. The good thing of course was that they swapped. But I still worry how long this pair will last.

Update 2

I used the new pair this summer and did three climbs with it. So far not the same problems.

But I got some new ones. To my surprise, I got serious blisters on both heels, even though I had broken in the boots for a couple of hours. The first pair was used sort of right out of the shop.

The other thing was that the leather got drenched. Maybe this happened because these boot were untreated before use. Maybe for the same reason I did not have the smell problem again. My feet kept dry thanks to the Goretex.

Because I worried about the leather, I treated them back home with Nikwax.

Good boots...but not for heavy duty jobs.

Same problems.