Boot Eyehole Upgrade

I've been made fun of in the past for being tough on shoes and extending the life of my hiking boots for as long as possible. In fact, I've put hundreds of miles on shoes in Colorado that were held together with mostly duct tape and spray-on-rubber; shoes are expensive, and I refuse to give up a pair that are broken in well, especially if they cost serious money to purchase.

I've purchased several pairs of Merrel shoes, but they don't last, and their ability to repel water, even small amounts, is bad. If you're walking through small amounts of snow, or even through wet grass and brush, these shoes tend to act like sponges and will soak your feet in no time. When hiking at elevation, or in the spring or fall, this can make for a pretty miserable (or potentially dangerous) day. So I decided I wanted to get a sturdier pair of boots that could provide a good platform for climbing, while also keeping my feet dry.

I found a great deal for a new pair of hiking and scrambling boots from Wilderness Exchange - Scarpa Mescalito Mid. I've owned several pair of Scarpa climbing shoes and mountaineering boots, and the brand fits my feet well and are high quality. My only concern with getting the boots - the laces attach directly into the boot body, and sooner or later, the lace is going to chew through the leather. There's an upgraded version of the boot that includes protection on the laces, but the price is almost twice as much - that seems outrageous.

There are a few differences between the boots, but for the price, is there that much that separates them? They're both leather with Goretex, insulated and cushioned on the inside, have a Vibram sole and a solid toe cap. Twice as much money...?

So I bought a grommet kit to make the boots last - similar to this one.

I needed to work out the leather to make sure it would accept the grommet from my kit, but I didn't want to cut the leather - I chose to stretch out the opening a bit using a wooden skewer I found in my kitchen to get it started, and finished it off with a medium sized screwdriver that I worked back and forth a bit. Getting all of the holes in both boots to the right size took about ten minutes, and soon enough it was ready to have the new hardware installed.

This was a really simple change and took about half an hour to complete - the boots have seen several hundred miles on them, have been up rocky peaks, and through canyons in Utah - they're holding up awesome and I think they'll last for a long time.