These boots impressed me enough on Longs Peak to make the decision to take them on a hike of Mt. Alice in Rocky Mountain National Park exactly one week later. This hike would be close to 20 miles with around 4k feet elevation gain.
Once again, I trusted the work sock from the previous climb and I brought an extra pair of running shoes just in case the boots let me down. We started at 5am and arrived at Thunder Lake at 9am (7 miles in), and the boots were feeling good. We were about to ascend a gully above the lake to get onto the Continental Divide to nab Mt. Alice so we crisscrossed the gully to avoid pockets of ice and snow, and then had a few steep climbing moves to get out of the gully and onto the divide.
Again, in a situation where there is some class 2-3 climbing, I noted to myself how well the traction was and how the boot moved with what my feet were doing. I was continually pleased. We made it to the top of Mt. Alice and I was quite happy. Not many people climb Mt. Alice as it is a low 13er (13,000’ peak) that is a bit obscure. However, it is centrally located in Wild Basin of Rocky Mountain National Park so the views are excellent in every direction. I got the opportunity to stare at the Longs Peak summit for a majority of the hike and I was just there a week earlier!
We made our long descent and I paid close attention to how the Flexfit ankle support behaved on this long, consistent downhill. I could feel it easing up a bit as the blistering on my mid-ankles was not nearly as bad as the week before after Longs. With about a mile left, I came upon a stream and decided to submerge my right boot in the water about halfway up the ankle support. I left it there for about a minute (the cold felt so good on my foot!). When I took my foot out, I took off the boot and inspected my sock. It was still dry.
Overall, I was happy with this boot. It performed well for me in tough conditions and I would recommend it to any summer/fall scrambler who enjoys weekend excursions in the mountains and in their Jeep.
Related: Hiking Longs Peak
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