hi tec altitude iv wp final thoughts
Mon, Nov 15, 2010
I suspected these boots, kindly supplied by Fitness Footwear, would be a good choice for late spring to early winter, before the ice starts and the ice axe has to come out and yesterday I wore them on Blaven, with three inches of snow on the hill. The Altitude IV WP are part of the Hi-Tec range at Fitness Footwear along with their extensive walking boot collection and are an absolute bargain. Overall, I love these boots. They are light, very comfortable out of the box, for me anyway as they didn’t require any breaking in and they are also warm and waterproof. I’ve done a few river crossings in them and never had water leak in, other than through the top when the gaiters let some in. They’re wide enough for my broad feet too, which is most wonderful!
On Blaven, there was three inches of loose powder on wet rock and I felt completely at ease in these boots, although I’m normally at ease in those conditions anyway so don’t think they’ll make you into a winter walker. These are most definitely not winter walking boots as they cannot take crampons. The uppers would compress too much and cut off the circulation and the soles are too flexible to keep a crampon on. However, I found them fine on the loose powder snow yesterday as there wasn’t any ice requiring crampons. Having said that, if you found yourself on hard snow in these boots you’d be in trouble as they are far too light to kick steps and I’m not sure how they would be when edging on steps you cut with an ice axe. You really need stiffer boots for winter walking.
Early winter with soft snow and no ice, like yesterday, they were warm dry and comfortable and confident on the wet rock. I just had to brush the loose snow from the holds and they were fine.
So all in all, these boots are the perfect introduction to hillwalking from late spring to early winter. They are an absolute bargain and they reminded me of my teenage years just starting out. I just wish these boots had been around then. The boots are functional and they do what they say on the tin. Tip ‘o the hat to Hi-Tec!
Here’s what it was like yesterday coming off the hill. Note the lack of ice and hard snow. If you want to walk in winter, get a pair of winter boots, crampons and ice axe and learn how to use them.
You can read my other thoughts on these boots:
Hi-Tec Altitude IV WP #1 Initial impressions