Return or Shoe Goo

[tlsharb]

So in my never ending quest to find the perfect hiking boot, I bought a pair of Vasque Talus. My favorite boot ever was the Vasque Taku, and of course they quit making it. Seemed like the St. Elias and the Talus were similar...thus the purchase. Well, I've had a chance to take them on two pretty rough hikes here in the Whites of NH. Overall impression is very good, except for this (yup, both toes)....

boot.jpg

. Should I throw a little shoe goo in there and not worry about it, or does this mean I could be 20 miles from a trailhead this Sept. around the Silver Divide and the things will totally de-laminate?
ts

[Hobbes]

Dump that POS = that's not a shoe goo application. Shoe goo is for trail runners which have minor bits of rubber/plastic peeling away.

Alpine Mike likes these boots - I might get a pair to use with lightweight hiking crampons next spring:

https://www.google.com/search?site=&sou ... 1ozIpk-ozo

[mrphil]

Shoe Goo is silly and doesn't do the job either well or for long. Vasques have gone downhill, return the boots and make them own the drop in quality with a proper resoling.

I'm big on Zamberlans. But if you really need to glue, use Gorilla Glue, although the location of the peeling toe welt is notorious for failure, and even more notorious for being impossible to repair yourself with any degree of long-term success: High stress, not enough surface area to make a good bond.

[Wandering Daisy]

Do not start a trip with these boots! I would return them. Otherwise, take them to a shoe repair shop and see what they think. There still are a few Redwing shoe repair shops around. I have usually been given good advise from them.

Sometimes you have to just bit the bullet, call it a loss, and buy another brand of shoe. Better than having your shoe fall apart on a trip.

Merrells fit me very well, but the stitching falls apart sooner than I would prefer. Nevertheless, I use them one season, then throw them out and buy a new pair the next year. Seems like a lot of hiking shoes nowadays are only one-season shoes. Crampons work quite well on my Merrell leather (may be fake leather) light hikers.

[Hobbes]

This could be your chance to move to runners. I swear by the Altra LonePeak - I'm currently on the 3.0. I've been running & hiking in LPs for the last 3-4 years since version 1.0.

Here's my current pair which are around 6 months old. I've got hundreds of jogging/city walking miles on them, and took them up & over talus, snow and water crossings last week. (TR located here: http://www.highsierratopix.com/communit ... =1&t=16435) In fact, they were constantly wet for around 48 hours. These are the go-to shoe for PCTers - they work well with spikes, but as the trails dry up, they really come into their own as very comfortable hiking shoes - trail and/or XC. (Took the 2.5s over the Mammoth-Yosemite SHR last year.)

[freestone]

Watch out for the "GTX" label. If you are a fan of Gortex then you will be a happy camper, if not, they will punish you with every step.

+1 on Zamberlan.

[tlsharb]

Well, as much as I hate to admit it, I think WD is right on this one. My Vasque Takus lasted three seasons, and would have gone farther except the toe delamination set in. I went old school for two seasons with some Alico Tahoes. Nice boot, but for something that heavy (over 4 lbs) the under toe protection was minimal. I bet I could get another 3-5 seasons out of those, but the balls of my feet might vote against it. For as much hiking as I do (quite a bit here in the boulder strewn White Mts.), I really don't mind getting a good fitting, protective pair of boots that only lasts for a couple seasons. I just want that elusive combo: lightweight, good traction, long lasting, and protective. Maybe someday
ts

[Tom_H]

I wouldn't start a trip with those, but when guiding groups I always carried a tube of shoe-goo. The stuff worked just fine when a Vibram sole began delaminating from the upper. (Snow-Seal was bad about dissolving the glue between sole and upper.) I even repaired the boot of our national director one time deep in the CO backcountry. Once you're back in civilization, however, one of the old style heavy boots should be professionally repaired because the stitching needs to be re-sewn. The newer boots should be thrown away and new boots purchased.

[wildhiker]

For the past 15 years at least, I have been using the Hi-Tec Altitude boot. This is a low-cost leather boot with a real 3/4 length steel shank to give some stiffness for stepping on those sharp rocks. Unfortunately, they use a cheap sole (not Vibram) that wears out in 2 or 3 years (500 to 1000 miles). Then I have to buy a new pair. But never had one delaminate or otherwise fall apart.
-Phil