Sunday, August 12, 2012

Vasque Breeze GTX Review



Vasque Breeze GTX Review

I'm pretty minimalist when it comes to footwear. Since I bought my first pair of Vibram FiveFingers all those years ago, I've never really envisioned myself hiking in anything else. However, sometimes circumstances call for an alternative method. So for backpacking and high mountain trekking I needed to choose a real hiking boot. Being someone that doesn't like a ton of shoe, it was important that my boots be lightweight. At a sweet 1160 grams, the Breeze is just what I was looking for. Supportive, sturdy, durable, but also not gonna weigh me down a ton. It was also important that I have boots for any condition, rain or shine. With a breathable waterproof Goretex layer, the Breeze checked another requirement off my list. Ok so that's what the manufacturer says about them, but how do they really hold up?
I took my Breezeys out for a two-day backpacking excursion in Desolation Wilderness up near Tahoe. I was carrying around 40 pounds in my pack. I bought some extra moleskin for the inevitable blisters that come with breaking in new boots while carrying more weight than you should. Didn't happen. For a durable hiking boot, the Breeze are remarkably box-ready to be worn. They felt a little bit stiff in the upper for the first few days. However, in terms of the support and shank of the shoe, I never expected them to be so comfortable right off the bat. I hiked about 30 miles in my first week with them and had absolutely no issues.
Then it was off to South America. Surely the Andes mountains would provide a tougher test for these boots. For 8 days and for over 40 miles of rigorous up and downhill in every imaginable condition, they held up to everything Peru could throw at them. I hiked through ankle high mud, slush, rivers, and snow. These Vasque boots kept my feet dry the whole time, even when I fully submerged my feet for a waterproofing test. The Vibram tread has some pretty no-nonsense lugs on it as well, providing great traction. The only times that I slipped were on packed ice/snow and when coming out of the water with wet treads onto slippery granite, both of these are typical no matter what type of boot you happen to be wearing. Also, the boots live up to their namesake in that they keep it Breezey. Mesh paneling makes them REALLY breathable. I wore my Darn Tough wool hiking socks the whole time, a great match for any hiking boot, and never worried about overheating. Merino wool is awesome for a hiking soft. Aside from being super soft and plush, the wool is a natural temperature regulating fiber. It retains warmth incredibly well, even if it happens to get wet, but is breathable enough to still feel cool even if scorching heat. In the case of sweat or water leaking into a shoe, the wool quickly wicks moisture away from the skin keeping you dry. Merino wool also contains lanolin, which is antibacterial. I'll be honest, I switched off between 2 pairs of Darn Tough wool socks depending on the day, and in MY humble opinion they never really even started to smell. On top of that, Darn Tough has a LIFETIME warranty on their products. Which means, as long as you take care not to lose or somehow destroy your socks beyond normal wear and tear, Darn Tough is perfectly willing to support their product and send you new ones if they reach their limit.  I find it to be a pretty good indication of a good boot and sock combo when you can really forget about, well, the fact that you're wearing a boot. The Breeze are light and breathable enough to accomplish this.
Pros:
Lightweight and breathable
Goretex waterproof layer holds up to the test
Supportive with a strong and wide base platform
Cons:
Lots of mesh paneling and stitching rather than a one piece upper, for many boots this just means more areas that could fail to function eventually
Sizing note: I normally wear a size 11 shoe. For the Breeze, I went up to an 11.5 and they fit PERFECTLY. Be aware you may have to go up in size a bit in these boots. 
Review by Jake

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Jake in Peru!


Ok Amigos,
I've been in Peru now  for 17 days and my first time in South America has been unreal. I spent the first week in Cuzco, the historical capital of the Inca Empire. The city is a good mix of tourists and locals. Of course the best food is to be found at the local market, where my friends and I seem to be the only gringos brave enough to venture for cheap comida. But hey, we eat a lot and the teeny expensive portions at the local tourist restaurants don't really cut it, so we've been heading off to the San Pedro Mercado for heaping plates of Lomo Saltado.  The hostels here offer a great chance to meet other travelers and make new friends, everybody's open minded and willing to share recommendations on what the best thing to do is at each of their recently visited destinations. Of course, a local ATM chose to not return to me my debit card upon a withdrawal. Luckily, I'm traveling with friends kind enough to lend me some funds until I find another means of getting some cash.

For the last 8 days, we've been off in the mountains having the time of our lives. We took the Llama route to Salkantay all the way to Machu Picchu. For the first four days we had some pretty grueling hikes, going for 6-7 hours and summiting multiple passes per day, some as high as 4,900 meters. Which brings me to another talking point, altitude. I've never stayed anywhere before above 3,000 meters. I came to Peru in great shape thinking all that stuff about altitude sickness was just for old ladies to worry about. I was wrong. Altitude sickness is real, my friends, and it's lurking at about 3,400 meters to make a giant idiot out of you. I found doing routine things, like climbing a flight of stairs or ROLLING UP A SLEEPING BAG, to be on par going out for an easy 10 mile run in lead boots. But there's a reason we're hiking up so high and that is the views. I've never seen anything like the Andes mountains, nothing that even compares to it. The Andes jut straight out of the ground and climb steeply up for thousands of meters to jagged, snow-capped peaks. I love California landscape, but the Andes make the Sierras look like mole hills. Even my beloved Yosemite pales in comparison to the terrain here, flying from Lima to Cusco during the sunrise blew my mind. The ENTIRE country is mountains.  Also, the stars at night are insane. I've never seen the constellations of the Southern Hemisphere. At night, at 4,600 meters, in the mountains with no light pollution for 50 miles, I could go into a trance laying down and staring at them up here.

Yesterday, we made it to Machu Picchu after resting for the night at Aguas Calientes. I've never been so happy to have a shower and bed to sleep in, I'm fairly sure us four dudes smelled worse than any stray dog you could find in all of Peru as we walked into town. Machu Picchu was, of course, crazy. An entire city of ancient ruins sprawled across a tiny little platform, hidden away high up between the mountains.

Other things I've experienced so far in Peru:

Chicha, a traditional Peruvian beer made from corn, is actually pretty decent. I've had it at a few restaurants and even elected to have some when we went to watch the local soccer team, Cienciano, last week. If you come to Peru, don't order it at a soccer game unless you want to feel like somebody's been beating you over the head with a wiffle ball bat two hours later. It comes in a plastic bag fit for a goldfish and looked anything but sanitary.

Sopa de Cabeza. Yep. Sheep's head soup is pretty popular in the more local spots here and you even get to choose which part of the head you want in your soup. Oh Yeah! I ordered tongue last week. No joke, they literally put the entire sheep's skull, meat still attached, into the bowl with the soup. La lengua was pretty good actually, tender meat. I also had some ojo, sheep's eye, and it was tasty as well. One just has to get over the American-ness of being a picky eater and realize it's all meat anyway. And yes, I had my first huevo, or cooked ram's testicle this week as well. I apologize to those of you who just dry heaved, but it wasn't as bad as you might think.

Anyways, I've got a lot more stuff to talk about but that will have to do for now. More updates and pictures soon as I head South.