Hiking, best, Shoes, Today


Question by Quite Spectacular:

What are the best hiking shoes you can get today?

I really need new hiking shoes to walk on mountains and and valleys with rivers and a lot of stones (I'm icelandic and live in Iceland and i love hiking). I don't want them to cost too much but they have to be waterproof and comfortable and have good band that you tie your shoes with (i don't know the word for it), the band on my old shoes are always untieing themselves




Best answer:

Answer by jonal
Hi....First thing. Saving Iceland. Shocked when I first heard what was happening. Signed up.
Second thing ... Horace Dall.....great guy, a friend when I was a teenager and he was already retired.
He was the first person to cross Iceland with a wheeled vehicle, getting a bike across from the south coast to the north across Sprengisandur and he wore polished leather shoes and a jacket and tie.
He had no tent, and he used an old sturdy three speed bicycle which he pushed most of the way.
See half way down the last paragraph on mine on the second link . His Icelandic pictures from 1933 are on the first link...click on each to get a bigger picture.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1909711 . . . . .
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100424113341AAUcaS0 . . . .

Laces
....The band for tying shoes or boots is called a lace in English, either a shoelace or a bootlace normally in one word as in ...
"My bootlaces have come undone"..."Two pairs of brown shoelaces please"
Separate words can also be used...."Two pairs of long flat boot laces please"
There are two main styles of woven laces ...flat or round.
You can also get leather laces in a square section which are used by the military for boots but not normally for shoes and are popular with hikers and climbers for their strength and durability and because they stay fastened with just a simple hitch instead of a full knot.
We ran in Army boots with just that simple hitch on cross country runs
We used it every day for our normal working boots.
The friction of leather laces keeps it tight but other materials won't hold so well with a clove hitch.
http://www.netknots.com/html/clove_hitch.html
Long boots like cowboy boots normally also have leather laces.
Leather laces can be made with a square, flat, triangular, or round section.
Very long laces for particular sports are sometimes called by the name of the sport.
"One pair of red flat football laces please. And two pairs of running laces for my running shoes"
Footballs with air bladders are laced also and the laces for those are also called football laces so when buying for football boots it's best to say football boot laces or you might get laces for a football instead.
Here is a neatly laced football in the standard lacing pattern
http://www.hayfc.org/Football_LacesII.jpg . . . .
This site has many styles of laces
http://www.shoelacesexpress.com/ . . . .

Boots
The top two brands in the world for many generations now have been Scarpa and Meindl.
There are many others and the important thing is not the name on them but whether they fit you.
Many boots now have eVent or Goretex breathable waterproof linings.
The alternative is normal leather boots and then use dubbin for waterproofing, which in Iceland with it's rugged landscape and many wet places to cross is the best solution.
There is only one good way to buy shoes and boots. Go to an outdoor shop and try some.
Nearly all hiking or trail shoes and boots now are light and comfortable and strong enough for many seasons of hard walking.
Budget price boots need not be bad.
Neither are expensive ones necessarily the best, if you don't find some that fit well and are comfortable and suited to your own feet.
I go mountain running in some cheap Eurohike low-cut boots which are better than trainers on the wet grass and rock of my island home ( our Alþingi is Tynwald) and in Scotland Ireland and Wales which are just as wet.
They have lasted five years , will last another few yet, and cost very little compared to the expensive brands.

Some brands to know are the Scarpa and Meindl mentioned above from Italy and Austria, the British firm Karrimor who have good boots at budget to medium price , another British firm Brasher whose Hillmaster boots are the standard now in UK and which were introduced to have an affordable alternative to the expensive Austrian and Italian boots.
(Yes...those Scarpa and Meindl again, the only ones then available of any worth)
Merrel, Eurohike, and HiTech also do some decent boots, trail shoes, trainers, and sandals,
Whichever fits best, has a style you like, and is within your price range is the one to get.
Boots are normally worn with thick woollen walking socks so wear a pair when you try the boots on so you get the right fit.
I have Brasher and Karrimor boots for different uses, and those running boots. Other people will have what is best for them.
There is no best boot...only what is the best for you for the purpose you want them for.
The best for a record runtur along Laugavegur ...if the bank vaults can hold enough cash for that....won't be much use for a walk over Esja.
For river walks and the mountains strong leather boots with lots of dubbin soaked in before you wear them are the best way to go.
More boot details on a long answer here, but your local outdoor shop is the place to decide which boots to buy....when they are on your feet.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090731165717AA2khrY . . . . .

Caring for boots is on here with some details for a particular brand of boot which can be ignored.
How to use dubbin is in the last paragraph starting...For normal leather boots.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100718172725AAGn39v . . . . .
Aigh vie....good luck.... gangi þér vel

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