Hiker Deals

On sale at Sierra Trading Post are these classically-made backpacking boots from Alico, they’re available in both normal and wide widths too. The leather uppers are one-piece, full-grain leather and are not only beautiful, but are a lot thicker than the split leather and suede used in most “modern” hiking boots. This makes the boot a lot more supportive and allows the leather to have a “memory” of your foot’s shape. The liners of these Alico’s are also full leather - instead of a wicking, synthetic fabric. My mountaineering boots have a full leather liner, which cost me a lot of extra time and money to find, and it’s a lot less likely to pull and bunch on socks and cause rubbing than my synthetic-lined boots. The norwegian welt soles are incredibly supportive and great on rough trails. With a norwegian welt sole the boot and sole are hand-stitched together, instead of being bonded, so the result is a bit heavier (though still only 4-pounds a pair), but much more supportive and durable than bonded soles and can even be resoled once the lugs start to wear thin. With such heavy-duty construction, these boots will require longer than average break-in time, but will be incredibly comfortable once the leather uppers start to mold to your foot, plus they’ll outlast just about any other boot out there.

About resoling:
Good resolers are hard to find now, but I’ve hear good things about Rocky Mountain Resole for boots. I also had a good experience having climbing shoes resoled at Rock & Resole in Boulder, CO, but don’t know if they resole boots too.

A note on caring for traditional, all-leather boots:
Keep in mind though, boots made with full-grain leather and leather lining need a bit of care if they’re going to last for years. About once a year a quick soap (real soap, not liquid or deodorant soap) and water bath on the outside and inside will get rid of sap, salts, and anything else that can dry or crack the leather. Once they dry (no heating here) a coat of non-oil-based leather waterproofer needs to be applied thick enough to soak into the creases and seams of this thick leather. Traditionally boots like this were treaded with oil-based (including petroleum and/or animal-fat compounds) waterproofers because nothing else was available. Using wax (beeswax is one I’ve used myself) is OK, but the oil-based waterproofers can make the leather too soft and the threads stitching the boots together will cut into the softer leather - leading to weaker seams and the potential of seam blowouts. Since Nikwax and similar “new” treatments waterproof better anyway, there’s not a lot of reason to deal with those messy, stinky oils anyway.