It's an early birthday...

... except I only got to try on & photograph my gift. I won't actually "get" this until my birthday, which is still over a month away. Not that it'll make a difference ... they won't see any action for a while one way or the other.

My prior double-plastic mountaineering boots were a pair of Koflach Viva Softs ... I bought them super cheap - $99, if I remember correctly. They weren't worth shooting when it came to ice climbing (they weren't stiff enough for me to front-point very well at all) but they worked well enough when it came to straight-up mountaineering. Those boots have seen the summit of Mt. Adams (twice), Mt. Washington in winter (twice, and one failed attempt), Mt. Hood, Mt. Shasta and finally Mt. Baker this summer, where they finally folded. Essentially, the inner booties (which were hardly high-end to begin with) just disintegrated. They had practically no padding left on the sole of my foot, and the lace loops totally pulled loose on the right foot. The funny thing is, the outer boot is in good shape -- but I got brand new boots for what I would have paid to replace the inner booties. In a weird way, I'll miss those old boots.

Out with the old & in with the new! My new boots are a strange mix of traditional single-boot and double-plastic. They're made by Vasque, and since I already own an old pair of Vasque Alpines, I can vouch for their quality. These are Vasque "Super Alpinista"s. They're mostly built like a traditional leather boot, but they're totally synthetic, and the sides are constructed like a double-plastic boot. Can't wait to put 'em to the test! Mt. Rainier, here I come...