hiking boots

Gear Review: La Sportiva Hyper Mid GTX Boots

La Sportiva Hyper Mid GTX
La Sportiva Hyper Mid GTX

Boots
La Sportiva Hyper Mid GTX
$180, 2 lbs. 1 oz. (men’s 9)
Sizes: men’s 38-47.5
sportiva.com

A boot hits a rare trifecta when it excels for traction in any situation, delivers enough support and comfort for backpacking, and weighs only as much as the lightest hiking shoes. The mid-cut, leather Hyper Mid GTX does all of those things. I wore them on a pair of backpacking trips that would put even a much beefier boot to the test: carrying up to 40 pounds on a four-day, roughly 40-mile September hike in the Olympic Mountains, including 10-plus miles off-trail with very steep scrambling in the Bailey Range and two days of wind, rain, hail, and snow and temperatures in the 30s; and a three-day, 17-mile, mostly off-trail hike in early spring through the rugged canyons of Utah’s Capitol Reef National Park. These boots shined by all measures.

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