Trekking shoes / Alpine trekking shoes in India

My latest trek in Dhauladhars went very fine with Forclaz 500, no blisters and good ankle support. These shoes are damn sturdy, the soles have good grip. Water-proofing was very effective too. I would have wished for better grip on wet rocks, but then it wasn't too bad to complain about. It's good value for money, as long as you get the right size (read one size bigger), or climbing down will be a royal pain.

@vko: Agree, after breakin foreclaz 500 is one sturdy piece, takes everything that its been thrown upto.

Almost 900 more!! Where did you buy them from, in Mumbai or in Bangalore?

Recently I went on a day long hike to Mt. Kalsubai, Maharashtra's highest peak using Head 410. During the downhill journey it was painful though as both of my toenails were getting compressed. Did you feel anything like that or any tip?

I have done a number of treks across Uttarakhand and Himachal and my second pair of footwear is always a pair of floaters with good grip. If the weather permits and with the prior knowledge of the terrain, I choose the footwear. This is especially true when returning through the same path later. Hill descends can sometimes hurt the toes and floaters are ideal in such situations. Now a days some of the floaters come with good soles - like Vibram. Of course, they cost as nearly as a pair of shoes. Floaters are quite comfortable for normal terrain, easy to remove and very airy. Don't use it where ankle support is required and also if you are new to trekking.

Just returned from the 5 days sandakphu trek. Shoes are AWESOME ! only 2 very minor slips for which i'm to blame .
One negative is that on way down from sandakphu to rimbhick via gurdum, the route is ~15km of very steep down slope which is very stony. Got couple of blisters on feet due to friction. Not sure if there is any trekking shoe which really hugs the feet tightly. Highly recommended shoe i feel.

Completed a trek to Gomukh-Tapovan this October in my Quechua Forclaz 500. I found them extremely comfortable with good ankle support and very good grip on both rock and snow.

Hello,

I have registered for YHAI-Dalhousie 2011-12 trek and I am thinking of buying Forclaz 500.

Any place in Chennai where we can get trekking gear? Only place am aware of is Wildcraft.

Wow...shoes seem to be a hot topic.
Quecha shoes are good value for money. A good friend of mine swears by it. But it's slippery on wet surfaces.

On my recent trip to Pin Parvati i wore a Borreal Super latok. It was a bit of a overkill to walk initially. But on snow and rock it's mindblowing. My feet were taosty throughout.
My friend wore a Salamon Gore Tex trail running shoes. It was barely 350 gms. He felt cold on the pass crossing day. But otherwise a rock of a shoe.

I got these from a Wildcraft store in Blore. I just completed a trek with this pair. Found them very comfortable, even while downhill. Mine is a slightly bigger size so there's a lot of toe space and all. Maybe that helps?
A few issues though - one of the buckles used to hold the lace came of on the first day. Second one came off a few days later. They've apparently received many such similar complaints. That apart, the glue on the soul started to wear off and the shoes looked miserable after 15 days! I was actually asked to remove the shoes and put them in a scanner separately for checking at Delhi airport yesterday...as the soul was really starting to come off. Annoying!!

So, I took them to the same store today and got a replacement, no issues at all - this one is a new model..a little more expensive (I didn't have to pay the extra amount) than the previous one. They've done away with the whole buckle thing and more importantly, this one does not come in that stupid in your face orange color

I am a newbie here, and wanted to ask about if a trekking boot for cold weather has to be one size bigger as people suggest to wear two socks in them(yes sir, this is my level of knowledge on this subject).
Thought let me check over the internet first and found the following links to be very useful, thought of sharing them here s there might be few more newbies like me.

Hiking Boots Buying Guide- This site has lot of information about trekking.
Found these two videos informative one two

Experienced trekkers can correct any of the points mentioned in the above articles and may be fine tune them in Indian context.

In the pages i have read I have not seen any mention of Vasque products.I wear the Vasque Breeze model and it has all the bells and whistles.The shoe is light in weight,sturdy in its support through out the foot(arch and heel),padded at the top of the ankle again with great support,a large toe box(helps stop toe compression in width and height)has a tough sole with a soft feel for traction,a cambered toe to help with your gate( feels almost like a mbt on the front of the shoe)nylon web plugs for ventilation and a great price.You can pick them up anywhere from $119.00 to $139.00.Your right I love the shoe I have terrible feet from years of running and years of standing for work(i'm in retail sales).So if your looking check them out.Do buy them a half size to full size bigger,thats a comfort factor.

One more thing about Vasque they have almost no break in period.Something my retail experience has taught me is that if it doen't work when you put them on skip the shoe and go to the next one.Also try on shoes at the end of your day, if they bother you at that point just think what it would be like to walk in them for 8 hours.

They're not on retail sale in India. I've seen them in nordstrom racks and REI outlets back in the states though and thought they were quite sturdy shoes. Good point about trying them at the end of the day - your feet are at their swollen worst towards the end of the day.

After reading the latest discussions just ordered Forclaz 500 from playgroundonline. it costs me Rs 2528 after discount.hopefully it will be good for my roopkund trek next year.

I am not much of a trekker, but I had read that for trekking you need to buy shoes that leave at least 1.5 cm space in front of your toes (one size larger than your office shoes). You can then fill this space up with foam/cotton, so that your toes are cushioned on the downhill journey. I tried this in October, during my trek to Tunganath and Chandrashila in Garhwal, and it worked