9 years ago, when I bought my first outdoor boots in New York the world was rather simple. I could chose from a couple of different models and that’s it. When planning for the Singapore Transect I realized that my beloved Timberlands are way to heavy for the planned trip.
So what to buy?
Although I don’t have exact numbers I would guess that there are a few hundred different models of hiking & treking boots on the market, which doesn’t make it exactly easy to find what you are looking for. So stick to what you know, I told myself, and went to the Columbia webpage, hoping to minimize the confusion. Well, not really as only for men’s footwear I found more than 140 different products. Thanks to a reasonable navigation which allows you to focus your search, I was left with ‘only’ 50+ shoes & boots to choose from (some having nice names like ‘Pima’, ‘Myrada’ or ‘Diamond Peak’). What in the end cought my attention was the ‘Trail Meister III’ (Meister = German for Master) which Columbia describes as “a (…) new, mid version, multi-functional trail shoe that offers the weekend warrior plenty of versatility.”

Weekend warrior???

No comment!

Whatsoever, I finally made my way to the Columbia store at Vivo City to give the ‘Trail Meister III’ a try and there’s nothing else to say except that, so far, I am very pleased with what I bought. But the real test will start tomorrow. So better watch out for the upcoming (footwear) report!