Equipment is the most important companion you can have for any adventure. This will basically make or break whatever you do!  Trekking up Mt. Kinabalu in Malaysia, I made the fatal error of not getting properly fitted hiking boots. School boy error I hear you say and you would be right.  Having learnt my lesson from that 2016 trip and with Everest Base Camp (EBC) on the horizon for October 2017 I was determined never to make the same mistake ever again!

It is important to pick the right shop that specialises in the type of boots you might be looking for.  Have an idea of what your adventure entails, so for example the EBC trek is a none technical trek that does not require the use of a crampon.  Also take into consideration what kind of temperatures you will be trekking in.  EBC starts in warmer tempartures But can go down to the minuses.

You should accept nothing less than the perfect boot, in order to find this you need to put in the time. You might be lucky and find your boots in the first sitting.  It took me a total of 8 hours to find the perfect boot!  Having had an absolute nightmare with the wrong boots I knew the main challenge I was up against…….. 0 toe bash!  This is something that I have struggled with over the years and it can, quite frankly ruin the downhill part of your trip.  KNOW YOUR FEET!  I have quite long narrow feet which made it really hard to find the perfect boot.

Now for some visuals to this journey. Here are the boots that I tried and why they weren’t right for me.  These are all cracking boots and they could be the one 👆🏽for you.

Introducing the Scarpa Marmolada Trek.

This boot was tried on 4 times on different occasions.  I badly wanted this to be the boot for me as it fitted my narrow foot perfectly.  But alas it was not meant to be as toe bash was still occurring.  🙁 There is a newer model of this boot called the Marmolada Pro, but I found that it was too wide for my foot (a common occuarance for me).  With a wider boot, for me it caused not only major toe bash but also massive heel lift.

Not only do you not want toe bash but heel lift, if more than 1cm it can cause major rubbing and blisters. The professionals have advised me that 1cm is the absolute maximum heel lift you can tolerate in a boot.

I tried quite a few shops in Aberdeen, Aviemore and London but unfortunately for the staff, Tiso is where spent the most of my time trying on boots.  Pretty much ever time I went there I tried the Scarpa Marmolada, just to make sure! Like I said I loved this boot.

In most of these shops they will have a ramp that you can test the boots going up and down gradients. This is super helpful to give you a better idea of how the boot feels on your foot. You might feel like a bit of a numpty but you have to put that to one side otherwise you will regret it.  After 6 hours of trying on boots in the above stores and thinking that the 0 toe bash was only a thing that dreams were made of.  I decided that I needed to pick the comfiest boot and go with that otherwise I wouldn’t be able to go to Everest at all. So, I chose the La Sportiva Trango TRK G. Ordering them and wearing them around the office I stil wasn’t sure, as I was still getting toe bash. Not as much as other boots but it was still there. Wearing you boots on carpet when you first get them is a really good idea, as if your not sure you can still take them back.  Which I did.

These are the others boots that tried on the either had toe bash, heel lift or both and where to wide for me. These are all great boots and I would recommend trying any of them.