Who owns Kennetrek Mountain Extreme boots?

[longbow fanatic 1]

I would appreciate your thoughts on these boots. How is durability, waterproofness,breatheability of these boots. Any thoughts on these boots would be appreciated.

[Dave Pagel]

I have a pair of the Hardscrabble Hiker which is the shorter version.  Tough as nails!  I wear them nearly daily and have never had wet feet in them either.  They are a little bit heavier that some similar boots, but I like mine a lot.  Kenetrek and Crispi Idaho or Nevadas are my go to boots anymore.

D.P

[ghall80]

I am so hard on shoes and boots its not even funny.
My Hardscrabble Hikers are 4 years old I use them almost everyday and they are still going strong

Best dang boots out there if you ask me!!

[cisco 2]

I have the insulated mountain extreme 400s.. Best boot I have ever bought. Very comfortable and tough as nails but not very waterproof anymore but they are about 7-8 yrs old..

[Carcajou]

I have a pair of Mountain Extremes, uninsulated, excellent boot! Moderate weight, excellent traction in Colorado, water proof for quite some time while waxed with Montana Pitch blend, excellent support, I will buy another pair next season. Well worth the investment.

[Orion]

I have the Hardscrabble Hikers.  Best mountain boot I've ever used.  Fit my feet better than any other and have held up very well.  Three long hunts in Idaho the past three years, and they still look very good, and perform as if they were new.

[Walt Francis]

I have had the extremes for two years, they are, understandably, comparable to my Scarpa; Scarpa makes them for Kennetrex.  I just wore them in AK for 12 days, with rain almost all day long on 11 of those days.  The toes on the right boot got wet on day six, the left boot on day seven.  I waxed then thoroughly three times before the hunt. Hunters Kennetrex boots worked about the same.

That said, they are very comfortable. Mine have the 400 insulation and I have  used the last two winters chasing kitties and they have worked really well.

Carcajou,
Don't use the Montana Pitch Blend on the Kennetrex leather boots, the glue is not compatible with the oil in the Pitch Blend.  According to Kennetrex (based here in Bozeman), the Pitch Blend will dissolve the glue.  Don't ask how I know.... it might make me cry.

[bucknut]

They are tough as nails, totally waterproof, comfortable as any I've owned and wear like Iron. But they are heavy! I still highly recommend them. My all time fav's though are Meindl Denali's for bow hunting in the mountains.

[Walt Francis]

I should probably clarify, don't use Montana Pitch Blend on the boots made in Italy, they use a different glue then the Schnees boots or Kennetrex boots with the felt liners made here in Bozeman.  Pitch Blend works really good on those boots.

[Burnsie]

This year in Colorado, I was wearing Meindl Perfekt hikers and my brother had on his Kennetrek.  We had pretty nice weather, but had a couple days of pouring rain, slogging through an area backed up by beavers and crossing streams. Both our feet stayed dry up until the second to last day. I think at that point we had beat and scuffed the boots up bad enough that it wore off the Obennauf treatment (good stuff) and let parts of the leather get saturated and finally leak. Overall, both performed well and I would wear either again.

[Onions]

My buddy and I each bought the Mountain Extreme 400's. My buddy had trouble with one of his leaking, within the first year. He did call Kenetrek, and they told him to send them back. Unfortunately he never did. But I do believe Kenetrek would have made it right with him

As for me, I liked the boots. I thought they were very well built, solid boot. However, my feet did not like them. I consistently had soreness on the bottoms of my heels. Also, the heel cup is quite wide, (I do have narrow heels), I could not get my heel to stop slipping.
Another issue I had is I could not get them tight enough around my ankle/calf. Making the boot sloppy around my leg.

Like I stated earlier, I think Kenetrek is a good boot, however if you have slightly narrow feet, and skinny legs, these might not be the boots for you.

chris <><

[Tim in Wa.]

I've had issues with the rubber Rand  coming loose.Ive had two pair and had the same trouble with both.And I used the leather treatment from Kenetrek

[calgarychef]

I've got two pairs, had one resolved besause I plumb wore it out.  If they don't feel just right consider that they do have three heights of foot bed liners, maybe you don't have the right one.  I've heard lots of stories about folks ha paving their heels rubbed raw from sliding around.  I don't have that problem but I buy my walking boots to fit snug.  Conversely I buy felt packs to fit loose.