Hiking shoes, suggestions please

Sports and Hobbies
1
Hi all

I broken my old hiking shoes, and I need to buy new ones.

I do just easy and short hiking but

here it rains often and there are so many beautiful mountains with snow so I would like to buy something waterproof, medium quality, to use on winter, spring and autumn.

I see very high prices mostly starts at 250.

Can you suggest something or a good shop in Zurich ?

Thanks

D

2
There are many good brands - Meindl, Han Weg, La Sportiva, Scarpa all come to mind, and I'm sure that there are others that I've missed. The trick is to find a good brand which fits your feet. For example, I have wide feet, so Meindl and Scarpa tend to work well.

Best advice I can give you is to go to Transa by HB and/or Baechli near Oerlikon. Pretty much any boot there will be of high quality, and the staff know their stuff. They won't be cheap, but with light use and good maintenance (douse them with leather balm/grease when you put them away for the off season) quality boots usually last many seasons.

Somewhat separately from brand and fit, you'll have to decide what weight of boot you want. Heavier boots with more serious treads do give better traction in mud and snow, and the extra support is nice if you are using snowshoes or crampons, but you will notice the extra weight the rest of the time.

3
I bought a pair of brand new Meindl boots on Ebay in Germany, they fitted me perfectly, size 48 too. (Very lucky!) I think they were a clearance item and they only cost me €100,--

4
Try looking in a branch of Ottos.

They often have brand name, good quality hiking and other sports shoes at deeply discounted prices. Okay, so these are not the latest styles on offer by said manufacturers but who cares about that if it's a serious bargain you're after!

Here's a list of their branches in your Canton as searched for on their website: http://www.ottos.ch/de/filiale/latit...a/Aarau#mapBox/a/Aarau#mapBox) .

5
Or Ochsner sport, they usually have good deals on hiking shoes.

6
1) Know what type of boot you want - this will depend on the type of hiking you do. A soft, lower-cut, non-goretex one will be fine for summer hikes but not for snowshoeing. The flipside - a full alpine mountain boot will be too heavy, too expensive and overly specced for summer walks over the Uetliberg.

2) Baechli and Transa offer a good range of premium products. Jack Wolfskin products are also of a good quality (their shop is oppposite HB) and use Texapore instead of Goretex.

3) Baechli has an outlet shop in Volketswil - just opposite Sport Fabrik (a discount shop). There is also an outdoor place on the edge of Monchaltorf - but I can't confirm the discounts

4) Shop on the way the boot feels. Don't be tempted to buy an alpine boot because it has a superb discount if the fit isn't perfect and it is the wrong spec.

250chf for a well built hiking boot - which is comfortable, warm and durable is a good investment.

7
for many years i had those light-weight hiking boots but this time wanted something that lasts and went all leather and have never looked back. i love my double stitched meindl boots (and bye bye smelly feet with all leather ). great thing is if the sole wears out you can have it re-soled. they are the most comfortable boot i have ever owned and i often wear them in town as well for that reason. need little maintenance and look better the more worn they get.

but as others have said, trying them on to see if they are the right fit for your type of foot is essential. when i got mine it was hard to decide between meindl and hanwag, they were both super comfortable.

8
Check out the Lytos line of boots at Landi. Good price and good quality. They make them in Romania at the same factory that they make some of the Scarpa lines. They come with Vibram soles as well.

9
I'm waiting for these babies from Arc'teryx. No doubt we'll pay the usual Swiss premium price if they ever show up here.

In the meantime, check out these here from Inov8. I've used mine for a couple of years. They're real light, feel more like a running shoe and the sole is great on all surfaces except wet rock (nothing handles wet rocks). Get a half size larger than you'd normally wear.

10
I second Jack Wolfskin. Bought my hiking shoes in Zalando.de as a friend from Germany came for visiting and brought over the shoes to me

11
Migros (sportxx) has a good selection and this is the time of year you find some bargains because they are making room for the winter sports gear . . .

http://www.sportxx.ch/de/schuhe/trek...20wanderschuhe

12
I once made the mistake of buying very firm and rigid hiking boots because they were sold as being compatible with crampons. Since I never used them on ice, I didn't benefit from this and because they were so hard, they were quite uncomfortable. Since then, I use general purpose hiking boots.

13
Wellies for rain and flip flops for when it's dry.

Joking aside, I used to hike with someone who only ever wore wellies; and I bought a pair of flips flops, with a shaped and profiled, treaded sole, back in '95 for an extortionate price of $40 - but I still use them to this day, although the tread pattern is getting a bit smoothed down in places.

14
Just an update: I tried

Sherpa leather at 259

Meindl revolutionary air 2.3 at 299

Both very comfortable but I don't like leather because of my high sweat.

Both little too much rigid.

Later I'll go to transa.

15
Baechli Berg Sport Oerlikon has a small outlet center in the basement as well, half of which is usually hiking boots. it is conveniently located only a 3-5 minute walk from the Oerlikon bahnhoff on the track 8 side.

16
I went to Transa, they were very nice I tried shoes for 1h and bought nothing.

The model I fit perfect was too expensive and leather

17
Leather breathes, its some membranes that do not breathe so well. Goretex can clog quickly, I have eVent membranes in my leather boots and have never had trouble with overheating/sweating (and I'm generally running hot and sweaty). Don't discount solidly built leather shoes.

Use Snoseal (this http://www.atsko.com/1330.html ) to waterproof your leather, and condition it as well. I guarantee you won't have sweaty feet (and use WOOL socks, not cotton!!).

PS. My guarantee is an e-Guarantee. I will say sorry if they sweat... that's all

18
I got a pair of Lytos Säntis II ("designed in Italy" - made in EU) hiking shoes at Landi for around CHF 50.- a couple of years ago, and I'm still quite content with them after hiking around central Switzerland ever since.

I have yet to be convinced that other brands and models are really worth so much more. At Landi prices I can afford to buy new hiking shoes every two years and never spend as much as the big name brands require.

My other (emergency backup) "hiking shoes" are Swiss military surplus black leather shoes that feel as if lead weights have been added.

In both cases, I always wear two pairs of the socks, at least one of them as thick as possible.

Hope that helps!

19
I love my Salomon QUEST 4D GTX. Also used them for all of Kilimanjaro. You can even fix a flexible crampon (of course not for hardcore ice climbing )

You can find them on Zalando and other places in your price range.

20
Patagonia!!!