Well we made it back from the hunt and the boots performed perfect. I never once avoided water that was mid-boot or less high and had dry feet the whole hunt. The other guys with me had leather boots and gaiters, these boots definitely saved me steps compared to them.
Often the least terrible walking in the tundra was in 6” of water I found. I walked a lot in shallow water rather than deep tussocks.
The only issue I had was a little rubbing on the top of my big toe, back of the toenail. It was where the boot naturally broke over when taking a step. A couple wraps of Leukotape over each big toe completely ended it.
The leather of the boot inside the outer gaiter did get pretty damp by the end of 9 days. I wore the boots a lot of hours over a lot of miles including 3 caribou pack outs. I’m not sure how much of the moisture was sweat and how much seeped through the zipper. Just full disclosure, the leather did get damp. My foot and the inside of the boot stayed as dry as they ever do when hiking that hard on dry ground.
One concern I do have is that there is no way to treat the leather inside/under the attached gaiter. I’m just going to dry them good and not worry about it unless Crispi tells me something different.
To me they were well worth the money and I’d buy them again. They are going to sit on the boot drier for a few days and then get put up for the next adventure.
