SMS wrote:

Hmm... Pretty much mandatory for the UK then.

Plus you can't always plan when you might end up in wet conditions.

And yet lots of folk hike here in boots without waterproof liners. By
informed choice.

It's almost a non-issue these days anyway. Only the lowest end hiking
boots lack a GoreTex (or competing product) breathable waterproof
membrane.

Again, do you really think Scarpa SLs and Manatas are "low end"?

There's no real down side, the membrane is more breathable
than the leather, so even with no membrane you won't get any more air
circulation.

If you back up one breathability limiting barrier with another it works
in series, not parallel. Plus not everyone is in thick leather, despite
"needing" to be.

It's popular to bash GoreTex, especially since their early products were
not very durable or long-lasting, but the past several generations of
GoreTex don't have the problems that their early products did.

But it's still sweatier inside them than if they're not there.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/