Leather is your best friend in the mountains

When you’re heading for the mountains and the rocks, a leather shoe is your friend. Most climbing shoes are made with leather for a number of reasons. Firstly, the material is flexible and stretches, which is quite useful for form-fitted footwear. Secondly, leather is breathable, which is quite nice as not all climbers don’t wear socks in their climbing shoes.

Similarly, mountaineering and hiking boots used to be made of leather mostly. In fact, the summits of the highest mountains in the world have been scaled on leather boots, like Denali and Everest. Since the introduction of synthetic shoes, this has changed however. The breathability of leather also made these boots less resistant to the extreme cold at great heights due to the natural material.

Modern tanning methods, however, make leather more resistant to cold, improve the isolation qualities and are extremely durable. The models available are often more expensive than synthetic ones. The biggest benefit leather shoes offer for mountaineers and rock climbers? The exceptional feel of the material, that no other alternative can emulate. And for both, that is a quality you don’t want to miss out on.