Gear – Training Hiking boots

I also use the lightest shoe that will get the job done, most of the time its running shoes but on some of the steeper hiking i use a lighter hiking boot. In the last few weeks before big objectives I will work in more of my climbing kit even if that means using some heavy boots just to shake down the gear and get my feet broken in.

Some good thoughts here from the posts above. If your climbing goals are such that you’ll be wearing boots then I do think there some benefit to spending some of the training time in boots. They’re heavier and stiffer obviously than running shoes and stress your hip flexors and feet differently. I use a “retired” pair of single leather mountaineering boots for heavy weighted ME pack carries and the some of the longest day workouts. This seems to do the trick for me. As mentioned above of course if you arent climbing regularly in your “good” boots or you have a new pair then its worth a couple of shakedown sessions to iron out any potential kinks in the interaction between the boots and your feet before a big goal climb. For folks going to very cold environs in an Oly Mons type boot you need to be gentle with them, the sole is basically just foam without a high durometer rubber and isn’t meant for prolonged session hiking in sharp rock etc.

Keith, I do think in lieu of training with big boots and snowshoes at times (basically impossible for a lot of folks logistically) that ankle weights are a reasonable thing. Where I have had it go wrong is with athletes jumping in the deep end of the pool with really heavy ankle weights and big milages. Think critically about your goal and build up to something approximating that weight plus distance. In round numbers an Oly Mons and a snowshoe is about 4.5 pounds per foot. Subtract out your training footwear and that should be your added target weight. Maybe something around 3 pounds. Then the lineal distance of the biggest day. For an Denali that would be the first day at 4.5 miles. I would beware of trying to gauge this with total time as at home you’ll be moving much more quickly (many more # of steps) and might be too much abuse on your hip flexors. I have had good luck with folks building up to 3 days/week. Be conservative with your build up the hipflexors are a small muscle group that we ask a lot of already then abuse further by sitting all day at work/driving etc.

I am going to second Mark’s comments here. On my recent trip to Rainier I wore my LaSportiva Baruntse boots (Probably overkill I know, but I get cold feet…) I had only worn them a couple times before and nothing as big or as long as the actual trip – bad idea – my feet were not happy, well, actually only my right foot but anyway. The change in how stiff the boot was and difference in the support on the inside was significant. It worked itself out by the end of the trip but I can tell you 100% on the end of day 1 it was a bit painful. Make sure you do some work with the actual boots you plan to wear. 🙂

Cheers,
Steve O.