Is it really true that 1lb on your shoes = 6lbs on your back?

I recently got a pair of Asolo TPS 535, not sure if I make a mistake getting this shoes? This is my first pair of backpacking boot with full gain leather. They are heavier then regular hiking shoes. My purpose of getting this shoes is for multi day hike out on the back country with 30lbs plus pack. The quality of this shoes is high. Double stitching with thick leather. The sole is stiff yet has enough flex for movement.

My concern is that how will this perform out int he field. With the heavy weight makes me feel fatigue? If you have any experience with this shoes, please do share your experience.

Thanks in advance.

Kyle

I think the boot is overkill for 30-pound pack and regular backpacking, even off-trail travel. The only reason I can see for this boot is if you are going to do a lot of snow travel or are a really big guy (200 lb+) and have had experience with lighter boots breaking down. I quit using large leather boots over 10years ago. I would get some light hikers or sturdy trail running shoes and try them first. I know the idea of a boot that will "last forever" is tempting - but all that stiffness and weight will make every step and mile more difficult. The boot that you show is more of a mountaineering boot than a backpack boot. Save it for mountaineering!

Also, please give more details on what you mean by extened trips. Extended trips and 30 pound pack seem contridictory to me.

That's a boot that will last and get you through anything. Serious protection.

I think I would sweat my feet off in them within ten minutes.

My pack weight is typically in the 25-30 lb range, and I moved into trail runners and never looked back. The boots I take for bushwhacking are much less boot that yours - Asolo FSNs.

Some people prefer the boot that can do everything, it's really up to you... you might be more comfy in the lighter Vibram soled shoes that won't last forever but won't weigh a ton.

Weight is a big deal (I mean how much weight in the combination of you and your gear)- and BTW way Lori and Wandering Daisy are female and I think rather small so their ideas about boots may not be accurate for you. Secondly it depends on where you are going. I wore heavy crampon boots everywhere for 5 years and it strengthened my legs. I had no trouble going ten miles a day in em. I did spend a LOT of time in very rugged country off trail and on steep dangerous mountain ledges. These boots have whats called "edge" and the lighter boots mentioned DO NOT HAVE ANY EDGE. Edge means a hard sharp well - edge - that can lock onto a crack 1/8" wide. Try that in trailrunners. Nope - trail runners and "tennis shoes" are not for Heavy mountain travel, mostly only for trails in fact. Thats why I own 18 pairs of boots, but all are not hiking boots.
Jim

Jim, I don't know about Lori, but Wandering_Daisy does a considerable amount of off-trail travel, much of it actual mountaineering, in places like the Wind Rivers where "off-trail" often involves glacier travel, with crampons, or scrambling through talus. She also often goes out with a 40-lb. pack. Read her book and you'll see what I mean!

I notice also that a lot of rock climbers these days use thin, grippy low shoes, not climbing boots. They want something soft that will mold to and stick to the rock rather than something stiff where the contact area is much smaller.

I spent years arguing in favor of boots, using your arguments (although I'm not a climber) plus the old folktale about ankle support. Once I finally broke down and made the switch, I have found that trail runners are actually far more supportive than boots. I have often had problems with my ankles turning in boots, and with a history of ankle sprains felt that I needed them to prevent a new sprain. That piece of leather around my ankle, though, has turned out to be mostly psychological support. I have not had an ankle turn since I switched! In fact, I've tried deliberately to turn an ankle in the trail runners without success. It's the more supportive footbed, and particularly the anti-pronation devices built into the running shoes, that has made the big difference.

There are places I still wear boots--mostly in winter snow--but I can't wait to get them off!

I may be short, but I'm not "small" in any other sense, as you know!

I've found, as I get older, the "facts" I've stuck to for many years turn out to be only my own prejudices! Nothing wrong with that, but I have found that I enjoy being a bit more mellow about things! Not all change is bad, IMHO!

Mouse, you wear trail runners because frankly if you wore heavier gear you couldn't get out at all. You know I mean no offense.

As far as approach boots, its every person for themselves, but I bet you dollars to doughnuts that Daisy wears proper Kletter boots when she dons crampons. That may not aply specifically to "backpacking" on trails however. In the very rough steep dangerous rocks around ledges high in the Sierras, a boot with some edge that can stick to a narrow spot (and protect your ankles)is much superior to trail runners.

I am a technical rock climber and for that I wear soft shoes of sticky rubber that "stick" to rock. I would never hike in them. These shoes of special synthetic rubber have advanced climbing skills simply because they can stick to vertical rock, its not because they are light, and they also will mold into smaller spaces than a kletter boot.

I'm saying that crampon boots still have a place, though it may not be on YOUR feet, whether its a mistake to get them depends on the usage they are put to. I live in volcano country, a slip (while off trail) could wipe out an ankle easily if it wasn't encased in a boot.

I agree that it depends on where you are going and what you are doing. I wear a heavier boot for SAR, for example, as smashing through manzanita will result in a lacerated ankle if you aren't careful.

However, I have hiked with some pretty big gorillas - er, guys, who use not just trail runners but those Vibram Five Finger thingies with nothing but webbing between the toes.

Jim, you forgot! I do not always wear what you consider proper boots for crampons. I am the one who in another post said I had put crampons on my Saucany tennis shoes and you chewed me out for telling such things to beginners!

I have an ankle problem that precludes using boots. Two years ago I descended the seriously steep blue ice Mammoth Glacier with crampons strapped to my low-cut Merrel Radius hikers. Now I do not say this is for everyone. But for now, until some cleaver doctor can diagnose and fix my ultra-sensitive ankles I simply cannot wear any kind of shoe that touches my ankles.

After several years of doing tennis shoes, I now have settled on low-cut leather hikers. Just bought a new pair of Merrell "Radlands". They feel great- cannot wait to test them in snow.