View Full Version : Gore-Tex or Not Gore-Tex
XCskiNYC
09-11-2009, 20:56
If you have used both regular lightweight hiking boots (Vibram-type sole, mesh/leather upper) and similar boots with a GTX lining in a fairly rainy climate (like the NJ-NH AT late Spring, Summer, early Fall, especially in a season like the 2009 Summer hiking season around here), what was your experience?
Are leather/mesh uppers usually fairly water resistant anyway? Will they stay dry through four hours of walking in steady rain?
Do your feet end up sweating so much inside GTX boots that on a humid day it ends up wet inside the boots anyway?
Basically I'm comparing boots (shoes to be exact) like these:
http://www.rei.com/product/748515
http://www.rei.com/product/757560
take-a-knee
09-11-2009, 21:08
In the heat you will sweat up and get more blisters in GTX boots. In the snow they rock. Probably better yet is trail runners and Rocky GTX socks, removable GTX.
I only wear waterproof trail runners. Never had any issues with them in hot/humid conditions.
Gore-tex in an all weather boot is counterproductive, imo. Leather doesn't breathe very well, so putting a membrane inside which also is just barely breathable doesn't make any sense. Then, when you treat the leather so it doesn't dry and crack the treatment makes its way into the membrane and plugs it up anyway.
Gore-tex has always been sensitive to bodily salts and oils. The feet have the greatest concentration of sweat glands, (producing salt and oils) per square foot of skin surface, of any area of the body. For years I used all leather boots and they caused me athlete's foot and blisters. I switched to trail runners (mostly nylon and breathable) and have virtually none of the above problems.
Btw: Gore-tex breathes best in nylon fabric footwear. The sweat and oil contamination problem persists, though. Gore tries to minimize this contamination by coating the Gore-tex with a light layer of urethane (which, when thick enough, is completely non-breathable). Again - counterproductive.
Blissful
09-11-2009, 22:44
I had gore-tex boots for the first part of my hike. Take it from me, they do not keep your feet dry, esp in slush. Mine got soaked and dried slooowly. Went to trail runners, non gore-tex. Yeah they get wet too but dry fast.
lazy river road
09-11-2009, 23:06
This makes me regret purchasing my Vasque, they are leather exterior gortex interior lineing
take-a-knee
09-11-2009, 23:18
This makes me regret purchasing my Vasque, they are leather exterior gortex interior lineing
They are good in the winter, way too hot in the summer.
Kerosene
09-12-2009, 02:34
I've been trying to purchase a pair of non-GTX mid-weight boots, but it's almost impossible nowadays. The GTX lining might work just fine for a dayhiker, but if you're out in the wet for more than a day then your feet will get wet, either from the rain dribbling down your legs, stepping in puddles deeper than the tops of your boots, or your sweat. After that, it will be days before they're dry again.
I have a pair of Vasque trailrunner shoes that are not goretex and a pair that are. I'll take the goretex for the trail. In a rainstorm the non goretex got soaked thru and thru and took a long time to dry out. The goretex does have the concerns listed above, but to me damp feet are better than soaked feet.
Gortex cooks my feet. Even low cut, even below freezing.
Might be great at -20*F, but I'll never know.
spirit4earth
09-16-2009, 21:04
How, then, should we keep our feet dry while hiking in unrelenting rain?
lazy river road
09-16-2009, 21:16
can some one link a good website to trail runner...the one ive searched just look like tennis shoes our is that what they are...tennis shoes with better grips...im pretty clumsly how do i support my ankles from cracking in half in these things...
http://www.backcountry.com/outdoorgear/Salomon-XA-Pro-3D-Ultra-GTX-Trail-Running-Shoe-Mens/SAL1398M.html
ChinMusic
09-16-2009, 21:33
can some one link a good website to trail runner...the one ive searched just look like tennis shoes our is that what they are...tennis shoes with better grips...im pretty clumsly how do i support my ankles from cracking in half in these things...
I can only tell you what worked for me. Footware is such a personal decision and what works for one may/will not work for others. It is a trial and error path.
I finally realized, after going from boots, to low-cuts, to trail runners (Montrail Hardrocks killed me) that the answer was on my feet all this time. I had a favorite walking shoe for daily use. It was a New Balance 621 (current model #) 11EE's that I get ALL THE TIME.
I got some New Balance 806 11EEs and have not looked back, summer or winter (well, winter within reason).
Bottom line, you gotta just find what works for you.
garlic08
09-16-2009, 21:36
I had gore-tex boots for the first part of my hike. Take it from me, they do not keep your feet dry, esp in slush. Mine got soaked and dried slooowly. Went to trail runners, non gore-tex. Yeah they get wet too but dry fast.
That reminds me of my hike through the Smokies in an April blizzard. There was one person in a group of five I met that had leather/GTX boots (the rest had trail runners, like me). I later heard that that person got minor frostbite on the feet and was hospitalized. The rest were fine.
I don't even try to keep dry in rain. Nor do I risk boulder-hopping simple stream crossings any more, I just walk through. It's safer and I'll be dry in usually an hour.
In order for GTX to breathe, it needs to be clean and dry. How often does that happen with footwear?
ChinMusic
09-16-2009, 21:41
I don't even try to keep dry in rain. Nor do I risk boulder-hopping simple stream crossings any more, I just walk through. It's safer and I'll be dry in usually an hour.
Ditto, I decided a while back to just march through water if there is any risk of a key rock moving. Trail runners have made this decision easy.
How, then, should we keep our feet dry while hiking in unrelenting rain?
You don't. :)
Not being snarky. To quote Sierra climbing legend Smoky Blanchard:
There is no real hope of traveling perfectly light in the mountains.
It is good to try,as long as you realize that,like proving a unified field
theory, mastering Kanji,or routinely brewing the perfect cup of coffee,
the game can never be won.
Substitute "traveling perfectly light" to "dry shoes in unrelenting rain".
Have a sacred stash of dry socks that are only worn in your sleeping bag.
Another reason for trail runners...they dry quicker than boots.
XCskiNYC
09-17-2009, 00:03
I had a favorite walking shoe for daily use. It was a New Balance 621 (current model #) 11EE's that I get ALL THE TIME.
These are great shoes. Really great for walking. I would use my 609's (pretty identical to 621, 622, and the others) for hiking. Well, I have used them for a couple of hikes. But they're a bit worn and the AT might do them in.
It might work to waterproof these shoes.
In 1976 Gore invented a membrane that was a revolution in vascular surgery. Soon the gear makers "discovered" the waterproof but breathable traits of gore-tex. Problem 1: gore-tex is not absolutely waterproof (never has been-never will be)
Problem 2: gore-tex is not 100 % breathable (3 % breathability by their own tests)
Problem 3: gore-tex is expensive
Summary: Although gore-tex is probably a step in the right direction it is not the Holy Grail of hiking that the gear makers would have us believe. It, under ideal conditions, functions somewhat as advertised but who among us hikes in ideal conditions: ie. sunny and 65 degrees. After a couple of days of steady rain you will be wet no matter what miracle fabric you have chosen to wrap yourself. Gore-tex boots take twice as long to dry out because of simple physics: it takes a temperature differential inside the boot to force water out. Take off your boots and the temperature differential goes away, hence wet boots. Non gore-tex boots dry faster because they are more breathable to begin with not having another membrane of fabric(the layer of gore-tex) to push the water through. Change your socks often, hang your boots/shoes at night to catch any breeze, and hope for dry weather.
Rain water runs down my legs and into my boots. So, it isn't the lining that keeps moisture out.