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Reviews > Footwear > Winter Boots > MEC Hut Booties 2 > Owner Review by Andrea Murland

MEC Hut Booties 2
Owner Review by Andrea Murland
November 19, 2013

Tester Information

Name: Andrea Murland
Email: amurland AT shaw DOT ca
Age: 28
Location: Elkford & Kimberley, British Columbia, Canada
Gender: Female
Height: 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m)
Weight: 130 lb (59 kg)

I began hiking frequently in 2006 and have since hiked in Western Canada, Australia, and spent 2 months backpacking in the Alps. I spend most weekends either day-hiking or on 2-3 day backpacking trips, with some longer trips when I can manage them. I also snowshoe and ski in the winter, but don’t have a lot of experience with winter in the backcountry yet. Elevation is typically 500-3,000 m (1,600-10,000 ft), in the Canadian Rockies and the Selkirk, Purcell, and Monashee ranges. I try for a light pack, but I don’t consider myself a lightweight backpacker.

Image Courtesy of MEC
MEC Hut Booties 2

Product Information

Manufacturer: Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC)
Manufacturer's URL: www.mec.ca
Year of Manufacture: 2009
Model: Hut Booties 2
MSRP: CAD 45.00 (plus there is a one-time CAD 5.00 fee to join the co-op)
Sizes Available: XS-XL
Size Reviewed: XS
Colour: Shadow (no longer available)
Colours Available: Red, Coal, Aegean
Listed Weight: 313 g (10 oz), size Medium
Measured Weight: 277 g (8.9 oz)

Description

The MEC Hut Booties 2 are insulated booties that are designed for winter hut use. The outside of the booties is 70-denier nylon, and the lining is 50-denier brushed polyester, which is soft. The booties are insulated with MEC Hyperloft synthetic insulation. The soles of the booties are a harder, abrasion resistant material, with a raised pattern (presumably for grip), and the soles are 25.4 cm (10 in) long on mine. The booties are mid-calf height, with the XS size measuring 16.5 cm (6.5 in) high. At the ankles and top of the booties are cords with cord-locks to tighten the booties. When both booties are placed together and flattened (as if to slide into a pack), they are about 8 cm (3.1 in) thick.
My hut booties

Field Conditions

Since 2009 I have worn these hut booties on about 15 nights around huts and camp. They are generally part of my kit in autumn, winter, and spring. I have used them on trips where the temperatures dipped as low as -10 C (14 F) overnight, or stayed up around 5 C (41 F). On hut trips, I wear them around the cabin and on short trips outdoors to get water or find the washroom. On tenting trips, I wear them as soon as I take off my hiking boots, while cooking and doing tasks around camp, until I get into my sleeping bag. Outdoor ground conditions have included bare ground and full snow cover, as well as a mix.

Review
Around camp
Comfort & Fit:
I wear a US Women’s 6 shoe size, so the extra small booties fit me perfectly. They have enough length for my feet to comfortably stretch out, and I can put on a nice thick sock. They are very wide, so they are extremely comfortable and not restricting at all. Putting on these booties is one of the things I most look forward to after a day of hiking. The brushed inside of the booties makes for a not-too-slippery lining. Although my feet have lots of room to move, I don’t find that I slip around involuntarily in the booties while walking. The soles themselves can be quite slippery. The raised pattern doesn’t provide much grip, and on snow or packed snow I have to walk carefully so I don’t go for a ride.

Warmth & Water Resistance:
The booties are toasty warm! I have cold feet most of the time...indoors, outdoors, summer, winter...doesn’t matter. These booties have successfully kept my feet warm in the hours between taking off my hiking boots and going to bed. I haven’t tried them in extremely cold temperatures, but certainly for extended three-season use they’ve been great. On one particular occasion, I stuffed them into my Search & Rescue pack when deploying for what I knew would be an overnight rescue. Wearing these booties with chemical handwarmers inside kept me sane during my cold night of “sleeping” in a snow trench. I usually wear them with a wool sock. The booties also proved to be water resistant, at least until I wore a hole through one heel (more on that...). In snow and on wet ground I never had wet feet. No complaints!

Durability:
I am very sad to say that I have worn a hole in the heel of one of my booties. It doesn’t look like much, but it’s enough of a gap that moisture creeps in and leaves me with a wet heel on my sock. MEC tells me this is likely because I’ve worn them on bare ground instead of just in huts and on snow, which is what they’re designed for. I say that they’re probably right, since I loved these booties so much that the season I wore them in crept farther and farther towards summer – less hut booties than camp shoes. So now, they’re camp shoes. Other than that, the durability has been great.

Summary

The MEC Hut Booties 2 are synthetic hut booties that are warm, water resistant, and have done a great job keeping my feet toasty.

Thumbs Up:
Warm
Water resistant
My feet don’t slide around in them

Thumbs Down:
I wore a hole in the heel
Slippery sole



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Read more gear reviews by Andrea Murland

Reviews > Footwear > Winter Boots > MEC Hut Booties 2 > Owner Review by Andrea Murland



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