Koflach Boots a piece of history.

Kenny wearing his trusty Koflach boots.

I bought my first pair of Koflach in the early 80’s for a ice climbing trip to Canada. What a huge difference they made. Despite temperatures of minus 25 I had no more cold or wet feet. They also had an inner boot which was a great asset at the time. The inner boots were ideal to wear in Bothies and in huts. They were hard to break in you never broke them in they broke in your feet but in my mind they were so worth the cost.

1985 Koflach boots in Canada

From Scottish Mountaineering Heritage Collection. “Plastic boots came upon the mountaineering world like a rash in the late 1970’s and within a couple of years just about everybody had a pair. Scottish bog trotters said it was the first time they’d had dry feet for a hundred years,Himalayan climbers didn’t get frostbite and boot polish dried up in the tin – redundant. Unfortunately, there was a down side – condensation made your feet look like wrinkled prunes with blisters popping up on each wrinkle! Blisters appeared round the ankle where the boot top rubbed and if water did get in, it couldn’t get out. Some folk loved them, others hated them, but as if by magic, they almost totally disappeared from the scene sometime in the late 1990’s.
Koflach were one of the main producers back in the 70’s, using technology gleaned from making ski boots and we’ve got a prime example of their ‘Ultras’ here in the collection. They were probably the most prolific boot on the market at the time. We are not sure where this pair came from, but Mick Tighe thinks one of his mountain guiding clients donated them – thanks to whoever it was.”This warning was made in 2008 about Koflach boots.

EQUIPMENT WARNING – OLD PLASTIC BOOTS
Andy Sallabank, Mountain Instructor, was working with a couple of students in the Cairngorms when the old plastic boots of one of his students literally cracked and fell apart This not the first time I’ve heard of this happening. If you have any doubts about the age or quality of your plastic boots, Andy advises they are put in the freezer overnight and then hit with a hammer the next morning! It’s got to be better than them cracking and falling apart on the back doorstep than half way up the Ben.

Koflach boots