Taking care of your feet is clearly of great importance. You’ll be spending all day on them and very likely crossing a wide variety of surfaces, conditions and potential hazards.
The number one type of injury reported to Mountain Rescue is foot/ankle related, especially in the later part of the day when people have less energy, are most likely descending, maybe less well hydrated and could well be in poorer light.
Protecting your feet, supporting your ankles and giving you a good grip on everything from slippy wet grass to loose scree is vital.
Whatever kind of footwear you decide to get, the most important thing is that they fit you well. Bring your hiking socks with you and spend time with different models in the shop – walk around, jump up and down, try them on uneven surfaces and slopes – see how those different models feel on your feet.
Do I really need boots?
With boots you gain significantly more ankle protection, stronger sole units and sturdiness.
Experienced hikers who are very comfortable on uneven ground, know the routes well particularly in the conditions that they will be walking that day, might choose to wear only outdoor shoes and save some weight. However, it is a simple fact that the vast majority of hikers in the UK wear boots. If you aren’t sure – then you should be wearing boots.
Whatever you do choose to wear, it must be able to cope with a variety of surfaces; wet & dry, hard & soft, loose and rocky and most importantly protect and support your feet throughout the day.
Boot Ratings
There is a rating system that gives you a quick guide to the class of boot it is:
- B0 – Flexible soles and uppers. Usually cheap and light. Unsuitable for crampons.
- B1 – Stronger sole unit and tougher upper. Built for long days, scrambles and lighter winter walking. Can fit a C1 ‘strap on’ crampon.
- B2 – Stiffer sole with thicker, insulating uppers. Suitable for Alpine and harsh winter environments. Have a special grooved heel fitting to allow C2 winter climbing and scrambling crampons.
- B3 – Completely rigid sole and heavy, with significant insultation of the foot & usually the lower leg. Suitable for ice-climbing and high-altitude mountaineering in the greater peaks. Can fit C3 technical crampons.
As a general principle (and there can be exceptions) the more suitable a boot becomes for harsh and demanding conditions, the less suitable it becomes milder environments. For high-altitude mountaineering in the Karakorum a pair of B3’s are required but those same boots will make hiking up the average UK hill on a sunny day very much harder and uncomfortable.
For most UK hiking B0 or B1 will be more than adequate. If you are scrambling or crossing a lot of uneven rock then a stiffer B1 will help significantly. For winter hiking and scrambling you’ll want to think about B1/B2, leaning more to B2 for harsher winter environments like the Scottish uplands.
Gore-Tex (GTX) ?
The subject of Gore-Tex often arises in discussions about gear and there are advocates for and against when it comes to footwear. If you see GX or GTX in the model name of the boot then it almost certainly means that it has Gore-Tex somewhere in the upper. More is discussed in the fabrics section – there are a number of factors can affect the performance of Gore-Tex over time
The argument in favour is centred around the strategy of keeping water out of the boot in the first place – avoidance. Arguments against point to the slow release of moisture from within – especially if the outer layer is dirty or saturated with water. This can lead to moisture build up from sweating and slows down the rate of drying of a boot that has become wet – remediation.
Thus the hotter and drier the conditions the more you might want to look to non Gore-Tex footwear as perspiration is more likely to be an issue. The cooler and wetter the conditions, the more Gore-Tex will help to keep you warm and dry. Also if you intend to be walking in or across a lot of rivers where water is likely to get into the tops of the boots then non Gore-Tex will have an advantage. For average hill walking in the UK it is much more likely that Gore-Tex will be more helpful.