On 2008-08-28, y_p_w <y_p_w@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On Aug 28, 2:15 pm, "Wolf Leverich" <lever...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> My common sense tells me that well-ventilated high-top boots did just
> fine going down Angels Landing in 85-90 deg F temps. Or that the same
> boots did fine as I hiked down and back up the (extremely rocky) South
> Kaibab Trail at Grand Canyon NP in a late June morning. Or that a
> park ranger (who apparently did this once a week) hiking solo up to
> the South Rim from Phantom Ranch was wearing a pair of high-top
> leather hiking boots.
Whatever floats your boat. You can do those same hikes
in sandals or plastic boots. Or prolly wooden clogs.
I have a friend, actually the guy who holds the record for
ascents with the Hundred Peaks Section, who snowshoes in
low-cut lightweight shoes plus va**** barrier socks and
gaiters. I'm still waiting to see him try to German with
his crampons while wearing low-topped shoes.
The fact that it's possible doesn't mean it's optimal,
especially across the whole population of hikers.
###
> And you still don't seem to have a response for why cowboys seem to do
> just fine wearing boots in the desert Southwest. Granted - I do
> remember a quote from a cowboy saying that he could easily do the job
> "wearing tennis shoes and a ballcap", but that they have a traditional
> sense of style that seems to be functional. Heck - US military
> personnel wear boots in some of the hottest climates in the world and
> seem to do just fine.
Um, do you actually *know* any ranchers? You would prolly
be a bit disillusioned if you saw what they actually worked
in these days.
(Also, crawling into the details, the desert Southwest isn't
really where you find the cattle industry, anyway. That's
more of a Texas-Oklahoma-Kansas-Nebraska and surrounds thing.
My family ranches up in northeastern Wyoming.)
Moreover, you're making the one-size-fits-all error right
and left. Classical cowboy boots had a very distinctive
design to play nice with stirrups. Military boots are
designed with thought given to everything from the fact you
may carrying a 100 lbs of mortar rounds one day and
squatting in your own pee in the bottom of a foxhole the
next day.
I've never suddenly had to get into stirrups, carry a hundred
pounds of ammo, or crouch in my own pee while hiking. I don't
even have the same problems park rangers do: those guys have a
job to do, and it may involve cir***stances where low-topped
breathable boots just don't work. (Hint: NEVER swab out an
outhouse wearing low-topped breathables.)
There's no single footgear that's optimal for all cir***stances
and people. You just gotta use common sense and experiment.
Cheers, Wolf.
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