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Rock Grip Aluminum Bar Wading Boot & River Crampon

I do not work for Patagonia. Just thought it was an interesting take on mountaineering ideas that Yvon Chouinard helped develop and revolutionize.

And before anyone thinks, "Ah, you have to send them in. Built-in money-milking scam." Patagonia almost always has an insane warranty and an even more insane customer service department. It'll likely be free to fix the crampons except for the postage to Patagonia. One of the best customer service departments I've ever dealt with, and they don't make excuses. They do and get done.

It's an interesting idea for sure. Maryland outlawed felt this year and I went with chotas, like I had in felt, and they were pretty bad until I screwed in a bunch of studs. Now it they' re working fine. I don't think they're as good as felt in the water I fish but they're a lot better hiking in and out than felt.

One of the gals is using these and LOVES them. I think I'll give them a try on my non-felt boots. I haven't had the boots long enough (only had them this season) to know how they perform on slippery river bottoms. And I really don't want to screw the cleats into the soles. So I'm liking the looks of these.

And they are beautiful. Bling for the sole.

Patagonia has very good customer service.

I was looking at these boots for an upgrade. I already havevthe
Patagonia felt bottom wading boot.


I just picked up up a pair of Simms rubber bottom with the star cleats and very happy with them .

I have the AL bar Pantagonia boots and feel like spider man on the stream. They work really well, easy to walk back to the car in and even will work in a boat if you have to wear waders in one. Boots are very comfy also.

Doyou put a piece of carpet in the bottom of your boat? Looks like those bars would make for some slippery standing in boats.

How are those cleats for mud build up?

I can see chains getting hung up on a root wad or under water branch. I really like felt and hope they let us stick with it here.

I'm just wondering what kind of damage the aluminum bars are going to be doing to the stream bed? Sure, bars like that have been around for a while, but were few and far between. But with so many anglers giving them the big thumbs up, just how many will be on heavily used streams, leaving aluminum on the stream bed? Now maybe some of you live in places with little angler traffic, but the Big Thompson, South Platte, lower Sacramento lower Yuba, lower American (to name a few) may have tens of thousands of angler days a year.

I am still liking my Korker Chromes with the interchangeable soles. Might as well just toss out the pure rubber sole, but the rubber sole with the studs works all right, though the traction is different than with felt. The nice thing about the Korker system though, is that killing critters in the (synthetic, I believe) felt sole only means soaking/freezing the sole, not the whole boot. I can also use the same boots in AK, MD, CA, CO etc... Just change sole as needed. The big drawback about the Korkers, is that they only go down to a size 7 Mens. Unless you're a woman with good sized feet, don't bother to apply.

Scott

M,

Aren't those just traction aids used for icy sidewalks and the like? Or are they purpose made for wading?

Scott

I recommend you write Patagonia. Yvon Chouinard is a serious environmentalist and conservationist, as well as being a fly fisherman since the early 70s. He's active in getting dams removed and original habitat revitalized. Point being, it is highly unlikely that environmental impact wasn't a significant part of the R&D for these products. Environmental impact and footprint are two key components to his business model. He's human. The company surely makes mistakes, but it does work from this perspective. It wouldn't surprise me if they would share this research with the public. Patagonia is more transparent than most companies, especially with how their business model caters to the environment and conservation. Write them. They're great about responding to concerns.