Sitting here in the doldrums of a slightly duff-looking English
summer weekend, you can kind of forgive us for doing some high
mountain dreaming and the arrival of a pair of AKU's new Edge
GTX boots in the editorial hell hole's just encouraged us...
AKU is one of a bunch of top quality northern Italian footwear
brands that doesn't have a super high profile in the UK, but has been
quietly impressive whenever we've tried it. A few months back we were
drooling
over the aforementioned Edges and now we've got a pair to test.
'Light', in case you didn't know, is the new black and a pair of
size 43 Edge GTX weigh in at a just over 1700 grammes grammes on the
OM scales. That's not much more than a lot of three-season walking
boots. The difference though is that these are B2-rated designed to
take a crampon with fast-release heel and cradle-type front
bindings.
As you'd expect, the sole unit is as stiff as a Chelsea Pensioner
on parade and the upper features a whopping great full rand for
rubble protection and jamming into alpine cracks. The uppers are
nicely made with 1.8mm Perwanger leather and a tough-feeling
ballistic nylon upper cuff all backed up with a Gore-Tex waterproof
breathable liner. Lacing is in the modern technical idiom with a top
to toe system borrowed from rock boots.
The Vibram sole gets a blocked-in toe section marked 'Climbing
Zone', which may or may not use sticky Megabyte rubber, but should
put more of it on the rock regardless.
One thing you can't see is Aku's IMS system which saves weight,
lowers the boot's profile and means that your footbed rests on the
midsole cushioning rather than on the stiffened board.
Anyway, they're intended for mixed mountain terrain and, says AKU,
'heavy backpacking'. They feel dead comfortable on the typically
British OM test foot and it's great to find a winter boot that
doesn't break the scales.
We're planning to use them in Scotland this winter as an
alternative to traditional plastic or heavy leather four-season boots
and we have a feeling that they're going to kick butt when it comes
to precise footwork on long, mountaineering days. Price is £140,
watch this space :-)
www.aku.it
Richard Nicholls
