What walking boots with good wet grip?

I have a pair of Lowa Taurus II boots that don’t have much grip on smooth wet surfaces. Being quite expensive, I expected to be sorted for a while but because of the slippiness I’m thinking of relegating them to ‘dry use only’!

What boots are known for having ‘good’ wet grip?

I find Vibram soles have pretty good wet grip. I had some Scarpa Terra’s that were a really good year round walking boot. They got nicked in Nepal a few years ago and I’ve ended up in Salomons ever since….they’re appaling in wet conditions!

My Scarpa Mantas also have really good wet grip (as you’d expect!)

I had some Altberg Defenders with Vibram soles and I looked like Bambi on wet rock.
I replaced them with Haix boots – they use Davos soles and they stick like peanut butter in a shagpile rug.
Brilliant boots

Agreed. IME Vibram sucks in the wet. The Continental soles on my Adidas Terrex GTX boots is pretty good all round – way better than Vibram in the wet, but admittedly I’ve not got too much else to compare them to.

Definitely not Scarpa Terra. Even on wet tarmac they are scary and after a very memorable day out on the Forcan Ridge I realised why Scarpa called them “Terra”. My partners experience of them is the same but hers stopped being waterproof after only about 18 months of fairly light use. Mine get used for grassy mountains only.

Vibram do hundreds of different soles with different compounds. Some are grippy but wear quickly and others do the opposite. It’s impossible to tell until you try them. My Meindls have been great but they are 8 years old and the latest ones are different. My Altberg Tetheras are pretty good as well, maybe worth a try. I’ve also got some Saloman fabric boots, the soles are great – grippy and long lasting but the uppers wore out very quickly.

All my boots are Salomon and have been for years (decades actually). Can’t say I’ve found the wet grip lacking.

+1 on the Continental branded Adidas soles being superb, but they do wear.

+1 Salomon just work, and it’s years since I’ve had a poor sole from them.

Inov 8 boots are working for me in the wet. Too early to comment on durability.

I’ve got a few scarpas (m3, leather shoes and trainer style ones) and the harder wearing the sole the less wet grip unsurprisingly. Vibram boots are the worst wet-rock grip, softer trainer styles the best.

My Meindl boots seem to not slip on anything. There I said it now… broken collar bone next time I venture out.

Just to add to the “Vibram is shit in the wet” movement, my North Face boots have Vibram soles and are lethal on wet rock.

Adidas Terrex with their “Stealth” rubber sole is a remarkable improvement. Honestly, it feels like you could stick to a concrete ceiling with them. Could be of course that everything other than Vibram is this good in the wet…

My Meindl boots seem to not slip on anything.

I was just about to comment that my Meindl desert boots have the best grip on any wet surface; particularly wet ones on the beach and local coastline – whereas the Vibram soles on my Altberg Defenders…

Maybe not in the same boot bling as the above, but i’ve a pair of Hi-Tec Altitude VI that have Michelin soles which are very grippy in the wet & comfy. I wear mine for 40hrs a week, every week, and the leather has peeled a bit, i should have probably used dubbin much earlier.

Another Inov8 user here and I find the ‘Graphene-Grip’ soles quite good, I think this type od sole is labelled as ‘G’ in the Inov8 range. I haven’t done huge miles in them and I don’t expect them to last forever due to their light weight but they’ve performed perfectly well over this autumn and winter so far. Mainly used in SE England on wet mud, grass and chalk.

Another vibram hater here.

Vibram does a variety of different rubber compounds, some are super grippy, some are quite hard – a bit like tyres – some are okay in dry, warm conditions, but lose grip at low temperatures and in the wet, yes, like tyres again. Unfortunately you’re at the mercy of which particular Vibram sole unit the brand has specced for a particular boot, but there’s a wide variety

If you want grippy, the Vibram Megagrip compound is pretty good. Mostly it gets used for approach shoes and some trail-running shoes, but there are more mainstream boots out there that use it. The Asolo GV boots for example, which are classic modern hiking boots but with a Megagrip sole unit.

There’s also a Vibram compound called Idrogrip which is designed specifically for grip on wet rock and is used in a few approach shoes I think. Should be a good call for ghyll scrambling, er, Scarpa Gecko.

The Graphene-enhanced inov-8 rubber is good and they’ve recently launched a lightweight dedicated walking boot.

Salomon’s rubber compounds seem to be a bit gash in the wet, as has been said already. But with Vibram it depends on the sole unit.

As BWD says different compounds and as always with BWD a really knowledge and informative insight, I stopped using traditional hiking or alpine boots as I do nothing now needing crampons and found for wet moors and fells that I was not gaining anything apart from not enough grip, pretty much using Adidas terras Skywalker’s for everything,grippy on rock and lugs for wet grass and high enough for misplaced bog steps.

I too hate vibram soles.
My haix airpower p9s are brilliant and £50 from a surplus store.

I’ll 2nd the inov8 boots (which appear to be a similar style to your lowa taurus boots). I’ve never had any issues on wet rock, altho I’m not sure you’d ever feel 100% happy on wet polished limestone.

As already said, with vibram there’s durability performance and grip performance. So look for something using their megagrip ie la sportiva tx4 mid. In fact any via ferrata aimed boot should have sticky soles by design .

This might be worth a read
https://trekandmountain.com/2018/12/09/the-big-question-which-rubber-sole-is-the-stickiest/

You can’t brand all vibram bad. That’s like saying all maxxis or continental tyres don’t grip

They make LOADS of different soles for different applications

I’ve had a terrible pair of vibram soles on slick surfaces (eg tube station platform) but other vibram soles have been just fine. I have lots of pairs of outdoorsy shoes and boots

I don’t do long walks but whenever it’s wet, muddy or snowy I just keep my work boots on. They’re Scrufs switchbacks and very good at music festivals in case you get stuck in a moshpit and your feet get trodden on.

Thanks for the feedback folks. It would seem that even if spending a fair dollop of cash it’s still a bit of a lottery!

I have some Viking Hunter GTX boots that I’m really happy with when trudging through knee high heather and peat bogs – the extra height comes in handy for fording streams. The track up my local hill only goes about half-way, from then on it’s a long haul up through peat, heather and rocks. I have some Salomon boots and they’re pretty hairy on the same climb/ascent due to comparative lack of grip.

Got mine half-price on Amazon in the summer.

Thanks for the feedback folks. It would seem that even if spending a fair dollop of cash it’s still a bit of a lottery!

You have conflicting views of Salomon in this very thread. 😊

Thanks for the feedback folks. It would seem that even if spending a fair dollop of cash it’s still a bit of a lottery!

Look for Haix ex-military unissued (ie new) on Ebay. I have 4pairs – desert/goretex/wet and cold, and never paid more than £55 for them boxed with spare laces. The Haix Cold and Wet weather are an awesome boot for the current conditions and were £55 (RRP is £190)

https://www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk/threads/ex-army-boots-haix-vs-alltberg.129191/

@RustyNissanPrairie – those Haix look the business. I’ve been trying to find a pair of decent boots that don’t cost an arm and a leg.

How’s the fit in them? I usually take a 10 or 10.5.

Sizing is spot on – they dont tend to stretch out as they are a substantial boot.