Rab Latok Extreme Gaiter

Coming from the west I have discovered many interesting truths in life that few are aware of – e.g. bored sheep herders like to stack rocks. How is this important in the review of a gaiter? We’ll get there, but first let me ramble.

I am a PhD student in archaeology conducting research in a remote region of north central Mongolia. Imagine the foothills of the Wind River Range - not so much the dune covered, camel caravans, region of the Gobi.

Despite what some movies have said about my profession, I actually don’t get to spend a lot of time rescuing damsels in danger of having their hearts ripped out. I chose a more tame side of the profession, specializing in landscape archaeology. Basically, I spend a lot of time scientifically wanderings in the wilderness looking for remains of Mongolian sheep herders. As such, I have put my fair share of hiking equipment through the wringer.

In total, the performance of these gaiters for hiking in variable terrain has been second to none. The project area where I work gets a lot of summer moisture. Despite long days tramping through knee high, wet grass, these gaiters have kept my feet nice and dry. Similarly, the body material of the gaiter has held up well in thick, thorny, underbrush.

I was a bit concerned with the durability of the strap that goes under the boot. Hundreds of kilometers of hiking later & these things are still going strong. Granted, the hiking has been mostly in grass/dirt terrain, however, (if you recall my earlier nugget of wisdom) I do feel confident saying that the lower strap will handle rocky situations also. Why? As it turns out, the Mongolian sheep herders of antiquity took rock stacking to new heights. These guys are the proud creators of huge rock monuments (10’s of meters), boat loads of rocks. Spending days recording these monuments has roughly approximated scrambling over a talus field so I do feel confident that the gaiter will last 307andbeyond.tumblr.com