Merrell Passage Ventilator Mid

Field Report
June 26, 2006

Tester Information

Name: Raymond Estrella
Age: 45
Gender: Male
Height: 6' 3" (193 cm)
Weight: 210 lb (95 kg)
Email address: rayestrella@hotmail.com
City: Huntington Beach
State: California
Country: USA 

Backpacking Background: I have been hiking for over 30 years, all over the state of California. I have also hiked in Washington, Minnesota, Nevada, Arizona, and Idaho. I hike year-round, mostly in the Sierra Nevada, and have put 148 miles (238 km) with a pack on my back so far this year.  As I start my 4th decade of backpacking I am making the move to lightweight gear, and smaller packs.

The product

Manufacturer: Wolverine World Wide Inc.
Web site: www.merrell.com
Product: Passage Ventilator Mid
Style # 83647
Year manufactured: 2006
MSRP: $110.00 (US)
Size: Men’s 11 (US)
Sizes available: Men’s 7-15, Women’s 5-11 (US)
Weight listed (size 8): 2 lb 6 oz (1.08 kg) Actual weight of test pair 2 lb 11.8 oz (1.24 kg)
Color tested: Grey/black, also available in Walnut
Warranty: I could not find any mention of it in the packaging, or on the web site.

Please see my Initial Report for a full description of the Passage Ventilator’s.

Field Conditions

I have used these in a lot of places during this phase; here they are in chronological order.

San Mateo Canyon Wilderness area. Temps from 64 F to 80 F (18 to 27 C), elevations from 1,200” to 3,000’ (366 to 914 m), and complete mix of terrain. It goes from mud to dirt to decomposed granite and fist sized rock strewn over the trail.

O’Neill Regional Park. Temps from 70 to 80 F (21 to 27 C) Trails are mostly hard-packed dirt. The terrain is all up and down. Level spots are almost nonexistent here. It is just a collection of canyons, ravines and gully’s. (What is the difference? Each is steeper and deeper than the next!)

San Jacinto Wilderness (both State and National) areas. Temps between 50 F and 70 F (10 to 21 C). Terrain mostly rock and decomposed granite, snow covered in parts. 28 miles (45 km) and 6820’ (2079 m) of gain in two days of hiking. Highest point 8900’ (2713 m).

Field Observations

From the very first time I put these on they were very comfortable. I did not do anything to “break them in”. I started off for their first use by hiking a fairly tough 16 miles (26 k), with 2,700’ (823 m) of elevation gain and loss. I was carrying a 12 lb (5.4 kg) pack. They did quite well. I did the hike in 5 hours total, including a break at Tenaha Falls, which was my destination. So I was cranking pretty good. At the end of the hike I did not have any blisters or warm spots. Yay!

They breathe very well, as they should with so much mesh. I wish that I had these boots when I did my Death Valley hike and the five trips up the Skyline Trail out of Palm Springs. Temps over 100 F (38 C) and hiking boots do not usually go together well for me. While my feet did sweat they were not soaked at the end of the hike. But one thing did concern me.

I have a verruca on the ball of my left foot that will not go away. (This is like a plantar wart.) I treat it and keep it trimmed. About nine miles (14.5 km) into my hike I felt it hurting a bit which is strange as I had just shaved it a few days earlier. I ignored it and kept on hiking. When I got home and took off the Merrells I found the left insole was coming out of the back of the boot. It was all the way to the top of the ankle cuff. That is why I could feel some pain, I was walking on the hard foot bed of the boot without the benefit of the insole. The right boot had the same thing happening, but not as bad. It was about two in (5.1 cm) up the back of my heel. I put them back where they go and decided to do another hike the next day.

I wore them to O’Neill Regional Park for a brutal up-and-down nine mile (14.5 km) hike, again with a 12 lb (5.4 kg) pack. I could feel the insoles creeping backwards within the first 15 minutes. When I was done I came back to our office to write this up, and check the status of the insoles. It was the opposite of the last occurrence. The left boot crawled out a little bit, the right was all the way to the top of the ankle cuff.

From what I can tell it is the climbing that is pushing them back. I can not tighten the laces any more. They fit and feel great right now. And almost all of my hiking involves major elevation gain. I relate to that commercial that asked, “Do you measure happiness with an altimeter”? I could glue them in, but like to be able to remove them to facilitate drying the boots.

I purchased some Spenco insoles and wore the Merrells with them in on two fairly strenuous hikes in the San Jacinto Wilderness areas. They are much better with the after market insoles. They did not slip a bit. And these hikes majorly pushed the limits of these boots. We climbed Tahquitz peak, a fairly normal climb on good trails that turned into snow at the top. We then followed the ridge to stay away from an icy traverse that my hiking partner was not comfortable with. This meant we got some bouldering in.

We then had to put on snowshoes to get back down to Saddle Junction, where the snow got patchy enough to remove the snowshoes. But we were still going through areas of snow. The Merrells handled it well, although my feet did get wet through the mesh. That was to be expected. A fast, steep decent down Devil’s Slide trail saw no toe bruising from the boots.

Two days later was more of the same, except no snow shoes. Again I got wet, seeing as how I was punching into the snow up to 9 in (23 cm), but the boots did great, and dried quickly once I got home.

During this phase of the testing I sprained my ankle very badly. (It was not the fault of the boots, I fell off a rock, doh!) After ascertaining that it was not broken my doctor gave me an aggressive therapy schedule to try to get me ready for a planned hike three weeks later. He told me to buy a professional brace and to start walking within one week. I chose the Merrells to wear for this because of the extra support offered by the “flying bridge” support. Wearing them walking around Huntington Beach has added another 64 miles (103 km) to the Ventilators total.

So far the only complaint I have is the insoles slipping out. They were comfortable enough, but just would not stay where they belong. I have not had any blisters or “warm-spots”. So far with almost 120 miles (193 km) on the boots the durability is proving to be good. The stability while climbing has been very good. The traction and grip of the soles is quite good. It even handled the water worn slick rock at Tenaha Falls with aplomb, as can be seen in the picture below from that trip.

But I’ve got another couple of months to put them through Ray’s Wringer! Let’s see how they do.

I would like to thank Merrell and BackpackerGearTest for the opportunity to test these boots.