HARDCORE OUTDOOR-GEAR RECOMMENDATIONS-GEAR REVIEWS FOR HIKING, SEARCH AND RESCUE, MILITARY, HUNTING: Hanwag Cheyenne GTX Vs. Lowa Ranger GTX

Hanwag Cheyenne GTX Vs. Lowa Ranger GTX

Scottsdale in October. On the trail again.  Testing the new Sitka Ascent Pants but also comparing the tried and true Lowa Ranger GTX to the new Cheyenne GTX boots from Hanwag.

I figured out that picking up a set of binoculars in a store and looking at something across the way or even going outside was an exercise in futility. With the quality of glass that is available today everything looks pretty good to me.  The best way to compare and judge binoculars or spotting scopes is side by side on tripods so you can go from one to another and then back again for hours at a time. You have to be sitting down, you have to be outside and 4 is about the most that I can manage at any one time. It is an effective methodology.

Evaluating boots does not usually require such care and precision. You put them on, hit the trail and figure out what you like and don't like. Pretty straight forward, right? Well, yea, most of the time but when you wear as many different pair of boots as I do over the course of a year it can be a little more problematic.

Last year I announced to every one that would listen that the Lowa Ranger GTX was the best all around boot that I had evaluated but a couple of months ago I came across the Cheyenne GTX from Hanwag and I wasn't quite so sure anymore. I don't know if anyone else will but I find it interesting that both boots are German.  So, I went back to the trail with the Rangers. Then the Cheyennes. Then the Rangers again and so on.  It was just like looking through binoculars at the store.  They were both great boots that won me over every time I wore them.  I couldn't decide and I couldn't have two best all around boot title holders, that just isn't how things work in my world.

Genius or idiot?  I don't know but they are both so good this was the only way I could think of to figure out which of these was really the best all around boot for me.

I did 7 miles on the mountain like this and then walked around the rest of the day and nobody noticed except for my 10 year old son who took all of 2 seconds to catch it.  Nothing gets by Coop. Then he put his hand on my shoulder like he was talking to a head injury patient and asked me if I was aware that my boots didn't match.  I replied, no, but I was pretty sure they were on the right feet. Didn't phase him at all. He grabbed an apple and his long board and was gone.

It was a good day on the trail.  The 2009 Sitka Ascent Pants are super comfortable, easy to move in and quiet. I love the stretchy Schoeller like fabric. The XLs are cut a little too big for me in the waist, they could use a few extra belt loops and the pockets need some sort of a positive closure but other than that I like them. We will see how durable they are after I run them down the West side of Four Peaks.

Talk to you later.

Thanks.

Wade Nelson
Editor

Sorting through the fads and fashion of the outdoor equipment industry to identify and promote the very best wilderness gear for high end recreational users, backcountry professionals and government agencies.

Hardcore Outdoor is dedicated to those who won't or can't turn back.