Charity Walk

footwear is very personal, different brands suit different feet, find whats comfortable for you. something where you cant twist the sole too easily with a bit of rigidity but doesnt have to be stiff ... dont worry about gore tex, its a waste of time.. dont get something that is too open weave on the outside material that would let in too much dirt and silt...

Agreed. Goretex is useless. Your footwear WILL get wet, and goretex just keeps them that way. When I walked the North Island section last year, I used a couple of different pairs of shoes. Extremely light boat shoes for 90 mile beach (do NOT do that! My feet were destroyed)! My VFFs. Great for simple trail walking, totally crapola on steeper, muddier tracks. And the pair that then saw me through the remainder, and are still going strong: Merrell hiking shoes. A bit more rigid than runners, even trail runners, but lighter than boots, and they dried fairly quickly. The bonus with these was that because they are a little more rigid, my Kahtoola microspikes stayed on superbly. I used these on steep tracks and really muddy sections. Presto! No more going base over apex! All the best for the TA. I'd head over to the dedicated TA Facebook page for further info, tips, most up-to-date track conditions, and to find a tramping partner. Have fun!

I wouldnt say gore-tex is useless as that is quite ambiguous. Obviously gore-tex does have a use for example it is much better than PVC but to what extent is only to ones own opinion. IMO gore-tex has served me well, much better than PVC and eVent fabrics. Gore-Tex is more about marketing than functionality and personally Id go for gore-tex over event or other propriety brand just because of the durability factor to the rest. But as with any supposed "breatheable but waterproof" jacket, you WILL always get well on the inside due to condensation but its about how much activity you do and the temprature that matters. I have an Arcteryx Zeta AR Jacket (I paid $800 for) yeah its expensive but I have the money to splash around so why not?

For coats yes gortex is still king but this thread was about shoes. Who really wants shoes that let the water in around the top then thanks to that marvelous layer of gortex keeps it in.

IMO weather or not a boot is waterproof or not is redundant, i look to keep my feet as warm as possible - that of wearing merino wool socks. Your feet will always feel wet/clammy goretex or not

we're talking about footwear, gore tex in footwear is largely useless in all but the coldest conditions... clothing is completely different, you can open up clothing to vent it and the air can get in to reduce moisture buildup, you cant do that with footwear. the limitations of the breathability show up massively when membranes are put into footwear.

Most boots these days are gore-tex anyway, its probably harder to fined non gortex boots these days anyway so to most people the default option would probably be goretex, its also marketed heavily so it does get lodged into your brain sometimes that gore-tex is considered the best

@ Kreig Which model Merrell's? I'm old enough to have used the classic ankle high rubber gumboot (the standard footwear used by the NZFS and many hunters) with some success. The trick was to cut some small holes in the instep to let the water out. But they are terribly old-school and I wouldn't wear them on longer multi-day trips because they were very prone to stinking up badly and probably not too flash for foot health. My big solid Meindl's are still my fallback boot for winter trips or alpine terrain that's loose, rocky and steep ... but they're an overkill for the vast majority of tracks. I'm also another one who finds Goretex lined boots completely wrong in NZ conditions. Wrong, wrong wrong. All it does is keep the water in and make the boot really slow to dry. The idea that somehow it's breathable with all that muck and mud all over them is risible. I'm keen to hear of stories from people who've extensively used lighter weight boots in a range of conditions with success.

I'll have to check the model, but seriously, I use those in EVERY condition. I just combine them with my microspikes when needed. :)