Not sure this is the right place for this, but I thought I would share my experience of these boots.
In 2007 I purchased a pair of Raichle All Degree Lites for a fair amount of cash... I was made up with their stiffness and how light they were - they were perfect for my hill days, being able to deal with almost anything I threw at them from snowy days in crampons to rock climbing on the Inn Pin. I had them for 6 months until I noticed the glue was coming away around the rand. I thought nothing of it, but the situation got gradually worse. The store I bought them from sent them to Lancashire Sports Repairs where they came back reglued. Again I got another 6 months out of them before the problem returned. They were out of warranty, so I paid for them to be fixed again. Three months later, they went again, so I bit the bullet and looked around for something new.
I looked at Scarpa Cristallos and some rather tasty La Sportivas, but I felt I couldn't justify the £200+ price tag when I had spent a fair bit 16 months earlier. I decided on taking a look at my local Decathlon, where I found the Alpinism 300, a light weight mountaineering boot with a waterproof lining and a stiff sole capable of taking a C2 crampon. Aside from looking the business, they also came with a two year warranty. They were also on offer at £80.... I bought them there and then. This was three years ago, and there performance astounds me.... they are still waterproof, they are exceptionally comfy and they saved my ankle from major ankle injury (only a small break rather than something a lot nastier) while wearing crampons.
In short - we often spend more than we have to on stuff, and I wasn't holding out much expectation for these.... however Decathlon have come up with the goods in this instance, and I would give these boots a resounding 10/10. Brilliant stuff.
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/alpinism-300-id_8029009.html
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