A few years back while I was race judging on the Yukon Quest I was intreged by a pair of boots worn by checkpoint manager, Scarlett Hall. Scarlett lives an amazing life with her family in the bush outside of Eagle, Alaska running a touring company - Bush Alaska Expeditions
The boots were US military issue Extreme Weather Mukluks. After getting home, I found and purchased a pair on Ebay for about $30.
Unfortunately, when they arrived they were too snug to zip up over my calves, so I ended up not wearing them - but Simone got some wear out of them last fall.
I was shuffling some stuff around in the garage a few weeks back and stumbled across them again. Since I've lost so much weight since I last tried them on and gave them another go - and absolutely no problem zipping them up now! =)
I've been wearing them ever since and quite loving them. Very lightweight and quite warm - although the lowest temp I've worn them in so far is about -20C. I've got lots of room in there to add some more liners if need be too!
I don't think I'll be running Iditarod in them, but they are a great training and 'around the yard' boot - and considering they were only $30 - what a great find!!
I did a quick Ebay search this morning and found 3 pairs listed - all priced very reasonably!!
Happy shopping!
Karen
3 comments:
I've had a pair of these for about 20 years and LOVE them! You can replace the original liners with Sorel felt liners and add an extra insole as well for some extra warmth. I've used them as low as -40F and still had roasty, toasty toes. Enjoy your rediscovered treasure!
DebK
Hey Karen,
Glad to hear you're enjoying them. However, I worked with the Americans way up north (Resolute Bay, NWT) and they had no quams whatsoever to trade them for a pair of Canadian Military Mukluks. The Canadian version are designed to really tackle our extremely cold winter. Also, check with "ACTON" (Canadian boot manufacture), they have a great over-boot that fit over your regular winter boots. Toasty as hell and waterproof to "boot"... = -) The nice thing about the "ACTONs" is they're lightweight, tough and a very versatile piece of kit when one is out for more than one day in the bush. Knowing of your future plans in the upcoming months, you might want to look at them. A lot of us down East doing the mid-distances are converts! Anyway, good luck with your training and be careful out there. = -)
Gino Roussel @
Baisley Lodges (facebook)
As I said Gino, they are not the boots I intend to wear on Iditarod. Just a nice training/dog yard option. After 9 Iditarods, I've got my personal footwear very sorted for that.
=)
Karen
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