Tuesday 24 November 2009

mardale pile bivi boots


The above items are one of those luxury items that you dream of at the end of a long day when your feet are wet and cold, and no amount of burying in the sleeping bag and wiggling of toes will make them warm up.

These are like buffalo pile mitts for the feet. The extra large (10-12) weigh 172g so not as light as I’d like. And being pile they are bulky too. Perhaps I should have indulged myself and bought some down booties from PHD but there’s one big advantage to these; they have a thin but durable sole so you can walk around in them. Non-lumpy ground obviously, I wouldn’t want to stand on a stone in these. Answering the call of nature in the damp dead of night is a foot wetting thing of the past.

The boots have, rather strangely, a pointy toe, very much like a Teddy Boys Winkle Picker. As a ice breaker in an alpine hut I could break in song, “Don’t you step on my blue pile shoes…” Or perhaps not.

4 comments:

PhilT said...

I've got a pair of these, but I've relegated them to slipper use around the house as the pile on the inner sole has ceased to, well, pile anymore. I've got a pair of the PHD booties though, and there's no way they're going anywhere near the house floor - a 900 fill down explosion would not be welcome....

Dave Hollin said...

That reminds me, I must look for a pair of winter booties...... :)

baz carter said...

I bought these from Needle Sports.

Philip Werner said...

I caved and brought primaloft booties on my last winter trip. They were very nice to wear in a sleeping bag. I have a pair from integral designs.