Boots, Boots & Boots....

I very rarely clean my shoes and boots. My work boots might get a wax once a year if they are lucky. Normally get 2 years out of them. Worn them tramping on my last two trips and they are comfy but heavy. My next pair of boots is going to be the hi-tec light weight synthetic ones. Sick of leather boots and their high maintenance or cracking issues.

Ive got a mate that brought some synthetic boots and they were absolute crap, cant remember what brand they were but they wernt cheep. After one trip they were showing significant sings of wear. Ill be sticking to tried and true leather.

I've bought the very light (500g) Hi-Tech Ion Maskboots that are of treated leather that doesn't absorb water (or let it out!). They are for scree trips for comfort and non-technical snow trips. Otherwise I stick to my sandals or plastic climbing boots. The sandals are OK on scree, it's just that you get a succession of scree streaming through between the socks and the sandals which necessitates being cleared at the end of the scree run or it then becomes uncomfortable on solid (non-scree) ground. I've found sandals great for river crossing trips as they allow the water to get squished out of your socks really fast. This means they're warmer in winter than boots. Of course people who haven't spent their childhood developing normal feet and ankle musculature by going barefeet and wearing jandals would not be able to wear sandals, I imagine. Regarding the in-step crampons. They're fine as mentioned above on non-technical snow slopes e.g. the south face of Mt Somers but I wouldn't be pushing my luck on some snow. I wore them on soft spring snow and they were useless - they just did the railway track thing i.e. acted like skis! You would need an ice axe to cut steps in some conditions. You would definitely need to be absolutely au fait with snow conditions to decide to just have in-step crampons. They fit on the sandals OK for slippery terrain!

I have to say Honora im struggling with sandles with wet socks in winter being warmer than boots? As you age all the support you can get in your ankles as your knees and hips give way is desireable despite a childhood in bare feat and jandles running on river boulders in the Hutt river. Come to think of it thats probably why my knees and hip are buggered now.

I was very surprised too when I heard people in boots grizzling about their cold feet when mine were fine. I wore my girlfriend's boots on one winter trip when her blisters were giving her hell. I was not impressed with the resulting cold feet and she wanted to know where she could get sandals like mine from. I suspect your avatar gives the clue to buggered knees and one hip. I've decided to drop my weight from 63kg to 60kg as this way I'll be carrying 6 margarine tubs of fat less up and down hills. Fortunately my bones are stronger than a 20 y.o.'s.

Avatar - That had me reaching for the dictionary but i get the point and your right however the difference for me is i need to lose an additional 27k not 3 and thats after shedding 28k.

Well done! I'm sure you'll get there too.