Gear review - An Update on Meindl boots

Last year I wrote about my experience of Meindl Boots. I also outlined why I have no issue with the weight of leather boots despite the online mantra from lightweight footwear evangelicals of one pound on your foot equates to 5 pounds on your back. Walking boots are clearly a personal choice and one that seems to depend on a number of factors: personality, physiology, philosophical outlook, appetite for comfort, gear durability, preferred walking speed, climate, path quality, terrain traversed ...

A year on from those posts and time for an update.

Boot line up July 2015

Dovre Extreme GTX boots

The boots have met all my of expectations for cool weather comfort, sole rigidity, waterproofness, ankle support etc. The stiffer sole has been a revelation for the ease of traversing across or contouring sloping ground and the band of rand has provided protection to the leather from sharp and abrasive rocks. An extended trip to the NW Highlands in Dec 2015 witnessed 8 days of 'weather' including two named storms and excursions were constrained to saturated often pathless lower elevations in terrain best described as rugged. A wild camping trip in late July and the Dovres were worn as the ground was saturated, streams in spate and temperatures not even reaching double figures. The only problem with the Dovre boots, aside from taking an age to lace up and unlace, is the Gore Tex lining in warmer weather.

Protective rand on Dovre and Engadin boots

The hype of Gore Tex 

My faith in marketing claims for outdoor gear is fairly low, online anecdotes even lower and I prefer to trust opinions of real people I meet on my wanders and my own personal experiences. The Gore Tex lining in the Dovre boots made walking in warmer weather distinctly uncomfortable and unpleasant: hot, sweaty, wet feet. Years ago I discovered the breathability claims of Gore Tex jackets to be risible in the humidity of the British climate and a similar abject performance can now be extended to Gore Tex boot liners.

I have no idea if the Gore Tex lining in the boot has proved durable, as with extremely low expectations of Gore Tex I have kept the leather well waxed to ensure waterproofing.

Engadin Boots

I was suitably impressed with the rigidity of the Meindl BC rated sole and the relative ease of walking across more challenging terrain. I was also conscious that the tread on two older pairs of Borneo's (one pair over a decade old the other getting on for 5 years old) were well worn in comparison with the tread depth on the Dovre boots. I decided a warm weather boot with a stiffer sole would be very desirable.

Screen shot from www.meindl.de

The current Meindl UK website is really poor in conveying information, so a search on Meindl's German website and I eventually found what I wanted a boot named the Engadin:

• Leather boot 
• No Gore Tex lining
• Memory foam system 
• BC rated sole
• Protective rand band
• Air active 
• Vibram multi grip sole

A quick call to my local independent outdoor shop and I enquired that if the Engadin's were the same wide fit as the Borneo and Dovre boots, I would order a pair. They were and I ordered a pair that took a fortnight to arrive from the continent.

So far the Engadin boots have been perfect as a replacement leather boot to the Borneos, with the advantage of the protective rand, stiffer sole and COOL feet again in warmer weather. A recent trip to Scotland was a case in point where both the Dovere and Engadin boots were packed, an unanticipated change from the NW Highlands to the Cairngorms meant only the Engadin's were worn. Warm temperatures, terrain mostly underlain by granite bedrock and geologically young superficial deposits derived from granite, meant the Dovre boots were not required. The Engadine boots were also taken to the NW Highlands in December 2015 and not worn, whilst on a trip to Gairloch/Toridon in October 2015 both boots were worn depending on the temperature and anticipated wetness of terrain.

Ye olde faithful Borneo's

Are still worn for walks in the local woodlands and countryside. A pair is left in the car boot just in case I should forget to pack boots for a trip, once bitten twice shy ...

Boot line up July 2016
From R to L : Engadin, Dovre, Borneo x 2

Gear review - In praise of Meindl boots

I recall once seeing an anatomy diagram of the foot and thinking that there was an awful lot of complexity going on down there, until that point I knew a foot consisted of 5 toes, sole, heel and an ankle joint and an achilles tendon courtesy of Homer. A school saturday job working in a shoe shop and I became aware of just how diverse feet can be; the surprising difference between feet attached to the same body; the variety in a population; why there's a very good reason for laces and how people will endure agony to wear the latest fashion brand/style.

http://www.aireurbano.com/foot-anatomy-diagram-tendons/foot-anatomy-diagram-tendons/

From my mechanical engineering perspective, the human foot is a tour de force of biomechanics and anything that complex needs a detailed set of operating instructions, to ensure trouble free operation over its intended design life. Sadly, there are no operating instructions. Faced with this problem an engineer would consider the best approach would be to design a device affording suitable protection and support.

http://www.healthandcare.co.uk/
Physio boot for stabilising foot

I learnt the expensive way, that buying the heavily marketed and celebrity endorsed brand of walking boot might deliver short term comfort and safety, it didn't necessarily equate with durability. Finally I received an unsolicited recommendation to try Meindl Borneo Pro MFS  boots from someone who knows these things, hard wearing, comfortable and some sage advice on boot TLC. 10 years ago I bought my first pair, they are still worn for walking in the woods, the treads worn too far down for the hills, but not worn enough to send for resoling. A 2nd pair were bought 4 years ago for hill duty. What can I say, except they've provided exemplary service from the peat bogs and heather bashing in Wales to pounding talus in the Cuillin's and through the quartzite block fields of the NW Highlands. Though not stated as a winter boot, they're still stiff enough for C1 crampons. The leather boots have been regularly cleaned and waxed keeping my feet dry, except when I've immersed them into water too deep for the Borneo height. A top tip is to wear Merino wool socks washed in natural soap to maintain the wool loft, even when wet, wool will keep feet warm, a better tip is to carry a spare pair of merino wool socks to change into, it's surprising how a wetted Borneo boot still feels OK, emptied out and a dry pair of socks worn. Those who have worn a boot for any length of time know that you can move across the landscape without staring fixedly on the ground you are about to step on, a quick glance suffices and the feet 'sense' or 'feel' their way, the Borneos have acted like a 6th sense. You do need strong walking pole(s) to accomplish this feat safely, as occasionally the feet will be deceived and the walking pole(s) will prevent you planting your face on terra firma. The Borneo soles are just stiff enough to angle up or contour short sections of steep hill slopes and high enough to 'wade' through 5" depth of water/bog. What's not to like?

http://www.aireurbano.com/diagram-of-the-foot-tendons/

Well, in more entertaining and rough terrain - wide expanses of tussocky grass, vegetated boulder fields, relict stream beds, morainic debris, contouring for extended sections of steep hill slopes, my feet were suggesting that 1. I needed to take more interest in map symbols and contour lines and 2. boot soles really needed to be stiffer for rougher terrain. For a few years I'd noted better performing footwear worn by those whose job demands they traverse rough ground. It wasn't quite a case of 'monkey see, monkey want', but on my wanders and when opportunity arose, I'd stop and chat to gamekeepers and stalkers, about this and that. I'd also make a point of enquiring on the performance of their outdoor footwear and the same names cropped up. As one stalker wryly noted about the job, you need 'good boots and a good bed. If you're not in one, you are in the other'. Even hardened to the prices of boots, I'll confess to sticker shock.

Meindl Dovre Extreme GTX
http://www.meindl.co.uk/products/dovre-extreme-gtx

A trip to Norway, inside the Artic Circle in September 2014 finally settled matters, walking over snow blanketed terrain and in the space of 2 days, I turned the same foot on the sides of hidden rocks 3 times, painful, but not serious, but a warning. The Norwegian hunting season was in full swing and hunters were conspicuous by wearing high visibility bibs over their camouflage gear, I'm guessing hi viz attire was the result of an incident involving the words 'misidentification, fatal, shooting, accident'. All the hunters were wearing the same boot style as the Welsh gamekeepers and Scottish stalkers. Back in the UK, desensitised to the sticker shock, and having established with Meindl that I could extrapolate the fit of the Borneo to the Dovre Extreme GTX boots, I ordered a pair.

Meindl Borneo and Dovre boots 2005 to present 

Putting on the new Dovre's and I was reminded of AA Milne's words “When you see someone putting on his Big Boots, you can be pretty sure that an Adventure is going to happen”. Size 11 boots weigh north of 2 kg, some low level, low gradient walks soon recalibrated the legs and I can't say I've noticed the weight or any fatigue, the Dovre's do feel good on the feet though. But then I'm not running, more a case of ambling along, taking in the views and noting the flora/fauna in the way. The increased height of the Dovre means a deeper depth of water can be crossed dry shod and there have been a few swollen 'allts' and 'nants' where I have crossed dry shod wearing the Dovres and would have had to empty the Borneos. So far the boots have met all expectations in walking over snow, slush, wet bog, quartzite block fields, morainic debris, contouring steep wet/snow mantled slopes and I'll update this review some time in the future for durability etc.

Update : a new post on Meindl boots July 2016