Equipment notes (1): "occasionally too porous..."

Alpine outfitting advice from the mid-1930s.

Boots —Of all articles of equipment there is nothing more important to a mountaineer than his boots. Some English makers produce boots with a good appearance, but these sometimes let in the water and wear badly, for English leather is liable to be too soft for soles, and, although uppers made with it are comfortable, they are occasionally too porous. 

The ideal boot should be made of leather such as those made at Grenoble; if manufactured by one of the best British firms, the maker should be warned not to produce too heavy an article, as is sometimes the tendency. To guard against danger from frost-bite, there should be adequate room in the toes, and the toe caps should be reinforced for the same reason. If the boots are heavy and clumsy they will hamper the wearer when he is climbing mountains such as the Chamonix aiguilles, where, for rock climbing, nailed boots cannot be discarded in favour of kletterschuhe, as in the Dolomites.

For convenience in rock climbing, the sole should not project unduly beyond the uppers. A quarter of an inch is perhaps the limit, and only when the boots are new. Tags should be strongly sewn on, for the boots should be easy to get into when they are frozen after a bivouac, and it should be possible to lace them up fairly tight without constricting the foot. Some climbers find that toe-caps are unsatisfactory, as they tend to contract the end of the boot and to compress the toes; this is liable to happen with Swiss leather, which is often too hard to be satisfactory except for soles and heels.

In England the classical bootmaker is Carter, who has supplied the Mount Everest Expedition and whose business is of many years’ standing. Another maker, Lawrie of Burnley, has also supplied boots for the expedition and takes that practical interest in the subject that only a mountaineer can.

As boots that will keep frost out may save the life of their owner, they surely deserve good treatment; trees, therefore, are well worth the trouble and cost, for they will greatly prolong the life of the leather. It must be remembered that hot water pipes are almost as dangerous to leather as fire is, a fact which the hotel “boots” does not always realize …

References

Chapter Three “Equipment” by C F Meade in The Lonsdale Library of Sports, Games and Pastimes, Volume XVIII, Mountaineering, London: Seeley Service & Co, 1934.