- Weight: 1495 gr (size 41)
- Sizes: 36-47
- Price: € 139.95
The Grisport Anden is a mountain hiking shoe with a high shaft and thanks to Grisport’s own Spo-Tex membrane, it is also waterproof. And it has a friendly price. Read the review!
Materials and weights
The Grisport Anden is largely made of Nubuck leather. The leather is greased. The tongue is provided with synthetic material to facilitate the folding and unfolding. On the inside, the Anden is provided with a liner containing Grisports own Spo-Tex membrane. This membrane must ensure that the shoes are watertight, but can still breathe so that you won’t get any sweaty feet. The shoe has a Vibram Explorer sole. Grisport gives no weight for the shoe. On my precision scale I weigh a total weight of 1495 grams for two shoes in a size 41.
Fit
The Grisport Anden is suitable for normal to wide and full feet. You have to be aware of the fact that the size series only consists of whole sizes. There is also no special ladies version.
Putting on
Although the shoes do not have a pulling tab on the back of the shaft, I can easily put the shoes on. By folding away the tongue, the shaft opens and my foot can enter without problems. Pulling on the laces is also smooth. There are four rows of metal eyes on the forefoot and three metal hooks on the shaft. The hook on the transition from forefoot to shaft allows you to adjust the lacing tension separately. The tongue lacks a loop to fix the lace. The laces are a bit too long, so you have to fasten the shoe with a double bow to avoid tripping over the excess laces. Cutting and burning them off is of course also possible.
Construction
The leather is of thick quality and gives the upper part of the shoe a lot of strength. Nevertheless, the shaft is fairly flexible and the Anden does not provide much lateral support. If you are a trained hiker, you will not need that support for real mountain hikes. If you are a beginner then the shoe offers enough support for not too difficult walks in the flat countryside and the low mountains.
The sole construction of the Grisport Anden is quite sturdy. It is fairly torsional stiff and the bending point of the sole sits nicely under the middle of the forefoot. The nylon connecting piece – the shank – that connects the forefoot to the heel and to which a shoe owes its strength is not visible. The sole also has a beautiful banana shape and a rounded heel that makes it walk smoothly. The heel is also properly fixed in the shoe and this virtually eliminates the risk of blisters.
The sole is firmly glued to the upper and the thick edge of the sole protects the leather nicely against protruding stones and tree roots. At the nose a real fender is missing over that nose.
Vibram Explorer
I have mixed feelings about the Vibram Explorer sole. The sole has a fairly classic profile. Sometimes there are stones left in it and it fills up pretty quickly with mud. You walk out the mud with some difficulty. The rubber of the sole usually gives good grip on wet and dry surfaces. However … Underneath the middle of the forefoot are two “lugs” or studs that are rounded to all sides. There is a lot of pressure when descending on the middle of the forefoot. It happened to me quite a few times – despite the excellent brake at the heel – that I made a glider when descending because the front of the sole does not offer enough grip. This gives an uncertain feeling. And it didn’t matter much whether you were walking down a mountain path with pebbles or a slope with wet grass.
Damping
Between the wear sole – that black layer under the shoe – and roughly the removable insole is a cushioning polyurethane intermediate layer. I have nothing to complain about the damping of the shoe.
Grisport Anden Practice
The shoes are comfortable. Not in the least because of the fine soft padding of the shaft. The feet are also well fixed in the shoes. Even after a thick month of use under many different circumstances, the greasy leather still looks great. Actually it looks better with all those little scratches in the fat layer. The waterproof Spo-Tex layer also does its job very well. The shoes have been found to be waterproof and sweaty feet have been kept to a minimum. The height of the waterproof layer is 11.5 cm and I have been able to wade through puddles and small streams – and hop over stones that are half underwater – without problems.
Verdict
The Grisport Anden are neatly made fully leather hiking boots. Depending on how experienced you are, they are suitable for normal walks in flat countryside and slightly hilly terrain to the more serious mountain walks. A 50 liter backpack fits perfectly with these shoes. They are waterproof and breathable when it is not too hot. I think the laces are too long. I find the Vibram Explorer sole too slippery when descending. So be careful. The price of the Grisport Anden is € 139.95 and that is very pleasant. I rate the Grisport Anden at 7.5 out of 10 points.
Information: www.grisport.it
Also have a peek at the Tecnica Forge GTX or the Asolo Falcon GV
