How to Choose Hiking Boots

Move fast and light in the high alpine with the men's La Sportiva Trango Tech Leather GTX mountaineering boots. They're equipped to handle backpacking, all-day guiding and technical mountaineering.
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Imported.
View the La Sportiva Trango Product LineView all La Sportiva Men's Backpacking BootsBest Use | Mountaineering Backpacking |
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Footwear Height | Over-the-ankle |
Footwear Closure | Lace-up |
Waterproof | Yes |
Type of Waterproofing | GORE-TEX Performance Comfort waterproof breathable linings |
Upper | Debossed nubuck leather |
Midsole | Polyurethane |
Outsole | Vibram La Sportiva Cube rubber |
Can Be Resoled | Yes |
Crampon Compatibility | Hybrid |
Weight (Pair) | 2 lbs. 13.2 oz. |
Gender | Men's |
Sustainability | From a Climate Neutral Certified brand |
34 EU | 35.5 EU | 36.5 EU | 37 EU | 37.5 EU | 38 EU | 38.5 EU | 39 EU | 39.5 EU | 40 EU | 40.5 EU | 41 EU | 41.5 EU | 42 EU | 42.5 EU | 43 EU | 43.5 EU | 44 EU | 44.5 EU | 45 EU | 45.5 EU | 46 EU | 46.5 EU | 47 EU | 47.5 EU | 48 EU | 48.5 EU | 49 EU | 49.5 EU | 50 EU | |
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U.S. Men's | 2.5+ | 4 | 4.5+ | 5 | 5.5 | 6 | 6.5 | 6.5+ | 7 | 7.5 | 8 | 8.5 | 8.5+ | 9 | 9.5 | 10 | 10.5 | 10.5+ | 11 | 11.5 | 12 | 12.5 | 12.5+ | 13 | 13.5 | 14 | 14.5 | 15 | 15.5 | 16 |
U.S. Women's | 3.5 | 5 | 5.5+ | 6 | 6.5 | 7 | 7.5 | 7.5+ | 8 | 8.5 | 9 | 9.5 | 9.5+ | 10 | 10.5 | 11 | 11.5 | 11.5+ | 12 | 12.5 | 13 | 13.5 | 13.5+ | 14 | 14.5 | 15 | 15.5 | 16 | 16.5 | |
EU | 34 | 35.5 | 36.5 | 37 | 37.5 | 38 | 38.5 | 39 | 39.5 | 40 | 40.5 | 41 | 41.5 | 42 | 42.5 | 43 | 43.5 | 44 | 44.5 | 45 | 45.5 | 46 | 46.5 | 47 | 47.5 | 48 | 48.5 | 49 | 49.5 | 50 |
Mondo | 24 | 24.5 | 25 | 25.5 | 26 | 26.5 | 27 | 27.5 | 28 | 28.5 | 29 | 29.5 | 30 | 30.5 | 31 |
For boots: Add one half size to your street shoe size. You should be able to slip one finger behind your heel when you are standing up with the boot unlaced and your toes touching the front. If the boot is too short, your toes will get smashed walking downhill. Too long and your heel will slide up and down and give you blisters.
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I hike about 20 miles a week in higher elevation(10,000’ +). Any boots I purchase, I usually look for: comfort, lightweight, excellent grip, and, most importantly, waterproof capabilities. I bought this pair last week, and I must say I am impressed. Overall, for Spring/Summer hikes at a higher elevation, this pair is the perfect fit. Between how well they grip, how breathable they are, and dry feet walking through streams, WoW. We will be going after Capital Peak this summer, and I will be using the Trango Tech Leather GTX.
These boots are well designed, waterproof capabilities 100 percent. Grip very well even on wet rocks. Sizing: I wear 11US, I bought the 11.5 US. Perfect fit with my thick socks. I crush 14ers for fun, 33 out 58 so far. I know a thing or two about a well designed, waterproof, and windproof boots. They are light, comfortable, and an excellent grip. The climb zone section of the Vibram soles sticks to rocks. Durable too!
I don't think I've ever loved a pair of boots as much as I've loved my trangos. Previous boots (laspo ultra raptor mids) were great but not quite burly enough for backpacking or kicking steps in winter, plus they were not very warm and wore out pretty quick. Ended up buying these with hopes that they could last me a couple of years and take care of all my mountain needs. As of writing this, my trangos have 400 miles on them and I have loved them so far. I've used them for hiking, scrambling, backpacking, and mountaineering in Colorado and they have been wonderful every time I put them on. They are comfortable and agile enough for day hiking, backpacking, and scrambling (20+ mile peakbagging days are easy work for these boots, and my feet felt pampered during backpacking trips), but sturdy and warm enough to be 3-season mountaineering machines and great boots for winter hiking and peakbagging in Colorado. My favorite thing about the boots is that I get a 3/4 shank and crampon lip without the stiffness and pain that I get from most full mountaineering boots, and thus they can double as a day hiker and a couloir machine. bottom line: if you want boots to do pretty much everything in the mountains up to ice or mixed, buy these!
Followed their advice and felt good while wearing. After breaking in for 20ish miles, began to really stretch out. Heel slipping issue and foot jamming on decent became evident and painful while climbing shasta. Warmth is about average but cold on temperatures around 20 degrees in snow froze these boots to the core very quickly. Durability is below average and leather is ripping on top and sides after about 100 miles of use in mixed rock/ice conditions. Would be a great approach boots between 60-40 degrees, but look somewhere else for boots for durability and cold weather performance.
This is a high quality boot. It works well for backpacking and for low angle mountaineering. It does not work well for frontpointing. It is flexible. It is not particularly insulated. I ordered up half a size, usually wear a 9.5, got a 10, and wear it with thick mountaineering socks.
I was drawn to this boot due to it being inexpensive. Mountaineering is incredibly expensive. And for mountaineering I would stay away. I used these on Baker and Shuksan in the North Cascades. They did the job and performed just okay, but had already shown signs of significant wear. Loose threads on the eyelet stitching, a small cut from fully automatic crampons. They also got extremely heavy with water soaked into the leather. I spent 5 days on baker taking a mountaineering course and they just couldn’t quite keep up. I’ve opted for the aequilibrium GTX and have been very happy. If you are looking for a super sturdy hiking boot or mountaineering with little to no time on wet glacier, then these might be fine. However I would recommend a step up.
I bought these for a trip to a long-distance trek in the Italian Dolomites in May 2022 (Alta Via 4) – I needed boots that would be light enough for hiking, comfortable while carrying a heavy multi-day pack (since the rifugios were not yet open), with good traction and firm soles for scrambling and edging, and that could take crampons (which my general-purpose Salomen hiking boots cannot – the heel is too wide). I had to buy the boots at short notice so had no time to break them in before the trip, so it was a bit of a gamble - but fortunately it worked out very well. They were comfortable straight out of the box, and provided excellent grip on rock. In the event we did not use our crampons – by late May the remaining snow was quite soft – but I checked the fit (with Petzl Lynx crampons) and I’m sure they would have been fine. I should probably have treated the leather part with Nikwax before the trip, but overall they performed very well. They won't replace my Sportiva Nepals for very cold use (eg White Mountains of NH in winter) but seem perfect for mixed-use activities.
These boots are sick and they can do anything. I wrote this review to remind all these arm chair gear reviewers to chill lol. Don’t listen to these wannabe Gear Lab idiots. The boots are great. Wear em’. Literally unless you work for Gear Lab these boots will work for you stop kidding yourself. They rock. Buy em’.
Wore these on my trip to Cloud Peak WY, conditions were wet and in the 20s-30s. These boots exceeded my expectations by staying warm and dry the entire 30+ miles. The hike was wet and scrambly, topping out at just over 13,000 feet and these boots crushed every challenge I threw at them!
This is a great pair of boots. I used to them for hiking, class 3+ climbing at 5,000m, and they performed really well. They have great ankle support and very good grip. I haven't used them on snow, but at near freezing temperature they felt warm.