caorach
Well-Known Member
My Altberg Mallerstangs are about to retire so I thought this was a good time to write up a little review and it seemed like it might be useful to compare them to my Scarpas.
I got the Altbergs in 2015 but quite late in the year and they didn't really see much use until the summer of 2016. I have about 7 pairs of boots by a range of makers including Mendil, Haix, Scarpa and Altberg so although I have a "main" pair that pair doesn't necessarily get all the work. It is important to note that I wear boots as my "everyday" footwear even when I'm not on the moor or hill so when I retired the Scarpas in 2015 I started wearing them everyday for work, general wandering about etc. Unless I'm at a wedding or funeral I'm in the boots so the Scarpas have a lot of wear on them. I don't know exactly when I got the Scarpas but know I was wearing them in 2008 so I'd guess they have 8 years on the moor plus 3 years everyday to work/town etc.
In short I've found the Scarpas relatively comfortable but not as good a boot as the Scarpas. The Scarpas are the far ones in the image and they haven't been waxed in years as they are just used to work and about the town and so on but they have a huge amount more wear on them than the Altbergs which, as you can see, have just been waxed. Now, I'm told I'm supposed to put some magic special wax on the Altbergs but that is sod all use to anyone who doesn't live next door to the magic wax factory so if the fact that the leather doesn't seem to be of the same quality as the Scarpas is down to the magic wax then the Altbergs are sod all use to anyone.
In the photo you'll note that there are new laces on the Altbergs, the second pair this week. In as far as I can recall the Scarpas are on the second pair in their life time. Altberg, for some reason, have made the little loops through which the laces pass rectangular in section and so they chew laces - yesterday I got out of the car and climbed the hill and felt both boots good funny on me. I looked down and both laces had broken. These are good quality Scarpa brand laces and the boots get the same use as my previous boots but I've never had boots chew laces. This seems like a minor thing until it is you putting up with changing laces in the field all the time.
The photos above show the Altbergs and the Scarpas with a close up of the problem. Who thought that was a good idea?
As stated I think the leather on the Scarpas is better quality than the Altbergs and I never had the Scarpas let water in (though I think waterproof boots are over rated as you always put a foot in a 3 foot deep bog hole and get water over the top anyhow) but despite claiming a waterproof lining my Altbergs left me with damp feed after a full day out yesterday. I think the water is just starting to seep through the leather and lining.
In terms of sole wear then the Altbergs have worn pretty fast, this photo compares the Altbergs with the Scarpas and you can see more wear on the Scarpas but they've done much more work and when I stopped using them on the hill and moor (almost all soft ground) there was virtually no sole wear visible:
The wear on the Altbergs has got such that I'm starting to skate about on the wet peat and so this is part of the reason to retire them as, although it isn't completely clear from the photo, the tread on the front part of the sole has got so shallow as to not give much grip on soft peat.
So, the Altbergs were comfortable enough but not of the same quality as my older Scarpa SLs and, again, I have to highlight that the Scarpas in these photos have had maybe 20 times the miles and work on them of the Altbergs but the level of wear is comparable. I certainly wouldn't rule out Altberg especially if your use was fairly lightweight or limited but I doubt if they would have done me a full season if they had been my only pair of boots. That is a shame as I wanted to like them and liked the idea of a UK boot manufacturer but in the end it is simple, trivial, stuff like them chewing a pair of laces almost as quickly as I can change them that has made up my mind - you have to be a special kind of stupid to pull a lacing system over a square edge.
I got the Altbergs in 2015 but quite late in the year and they didn't really see much use until the summer of 2016. I have about 7 pairs of boots by a range of makers including Mendil, Haix, Scarpa and Altberg so although I have a "main" pair that pair doesn't necessarily get all the work. It is important to note that I wear boots as my "everyday" footwear even when I'm not on the moor or hill so when I retired the Scarpas in 2015 I started wearing them everyday for work, general wandering about etc. Unless I'm at a wedding or funeral I'm in the boots so the Scarpas have a lot of wear on them. I don't know exactly when I got the Scarpas but know I was wearing them in 2008 so I'd guess they have 8 years on the moor plus 3 years everyday to work/town etc.
In short I've found the Scarpas relatively comfortable but not as good a boot as the Scarpas. The Scarpas are the far ones in the image and they haven't been waxed in years as they are just used to work and about the town and so on but they have a huge amount more wear on them than the Altbergs which, as you can see, have just been waxed. Now, I'm told I'm supposed to put some magic special wax on the Altbergs but that is sod all use to anyone who doesn't live next door to the magic wax factory so if the fact that the leather doesn't seem to be of the same quality as the Scarpas is down to the magic wax then the Altbergs are sod all use to anyone.
In the photo you'll note that there are new laces on the Altbergs, the second pair this week. In as far as I can recall the Scarpas are on the second pair in their life time. Altberg, for some reason, have made the little loops through which the laces pass rectangular in section and so they chew laces - yesterday I got out of the car and climbed the hill and felt both boots good funny on me. I looked down and both laces had broken. These are good quality Scarpa brand laces and the boots get the same use as my previous boots but I've never had boots chew laces. This seems like a minor thing until it is you putting up with changing laces in the field all the time.
The photos above show the Altbergs and the Scarpas with a close up of the problem. Who thought that was a good idea?
As stated I think the leather on the Scarpas is better quality than the Altbergs and I never had the Scarpas let water in (though I think waterproof boots are over rated as you always put a foot in a 3 foot deep bog hole and get water over the top anyhow) but despite claiming a waterproof lining my Altbergs left me with damp feed after a full day out yesterday. I think the water is just starting to seep through the leather and lining.
In terms of sole wear then the Altbergs have worn pretty fast, this photo compares the Altbergs with the Scarpas and you can see more wear on the Scarpas but they've done much more work and when I stopped using them on the hill and moor (almost all soft ground) there was virtually no sole wear visible:
The wear on the Altbergs has got such that I'm starting to skate about on the wet peat and so this is part of the reason to retire them as, although it isn't completely clear from the photo, the tread on the front part of the sole has got so shallow as to not give much grip on soft peat.
So, the Altbergs were comfortable enough but not of the same quality as my older Scarpa SLs and, again, I have to highlight that the Scarpas in these photos have had maybe 20 times the miles and work on them of the Altbergs but the level of wear is comparable. I certainly wouldn't rule out Altberg especially if your use was fairly lightweight or limited but I doubt if they would have done me a full season if they had been my only pair of boots. That is a shame as I wanted to like them and liked the idea of a UK boot manufacturer but in the end it is simple, trivial, stuff like them chewing a pair of laces almost as quickly as I can change them that has made up my mind - you have to be a special kind of stupid to pull a lacing system over a square edge.
