I will be doing a course/competition in an orienteering course in high desert environment with loose sand and mountains. I was planning on using my reliable salomon quest 4d 3, which they sadly don't make anymore. I have a pair of kennetrek mountain extreme 400g that I've never wore and am looking for a 2nd boot since I want a reliable backup. Would those be too cumbersome/heavy? My other thoughts were Lapponia 3 since it seems like the Quest 3. Other thoughts were Crispi Nevada. Appreciate all the suggestions.
Every 1 pound of weight on the feet/ankles equates to 7 pounds of weight on your back, in terms of energy usage. That's one of my starting points in figuring out what boots to go with. I have sets of boots similar to how I have a set of guns - different tools for different jobs.
The terrain and your energy usage are the bigger factors to balance out. If we're talking sands, I don't want a heavy boot, at all. If we're talking jagged lava-rock, skree, steep inclines, and heavy weight on the back, I want rugged and stiff boots.
I went over to Salomons as my main lightweight boots, and Kennetreks for other stuff. I use the Kennetreks when I want a tank of a boot, especially ones I have to live in - the worse the cold, mud, mountains, snow, the more I'm standing around, etc, the more I'll go towards them. But if I'm covering a lot of ground in a short amount of time, especially in temperate weather, I'm going with something light and sufficiently tough for the season. The Kennetreks and similar can last years or decades, and need to be maintained as an investment. The Salomons and similar I consider single-season hunting boots.
So, it's a tool-choice based on the task at hand. This orienteering course - sounds like a lot of ground to cover, in temperate conditions? How rugged are we talking in "high desert"?
