The common rule for choosing tracking boots: Take one extra size you’;re wearing. The reason is during a long trekking, foot is increasing (swells up). It’;s like hands get soaked while a long washing. First day it will be free enough, but already the next and followings days it gets close to foot. Basically, before first hiking the boots are to be worn in, city is possible. One day is enough, but better to do it for several days. You’;ll see all faults at once.

Leather treatment, regardless of it's type, consists of two stages: (A) hot deep penetration and (B)sparging with spray preventing water penetration.

(A) Is usually realized with help of wax-based preparations preparations. THE ONLY AIM: to recover leather properties (generally, its flexibility). Without it leather begins to dry, shrink and finally begins to tear seams. While animal is wearing its leather, animal’;s organism is giving "lubricant" recovering leather properties and providing protection from drying, mechanical damages etc. When leather is apart of its “;owner animal “; it does not receive lubricant so in travelling conditions leather boots are made of suffers much more than leather worn by animal in the same period of time. It’;s due not only to mechanical damages but generally to that fact that leather is losing certain elements that are impossible to recover as leather is apart from the animal. Of course, (A) also partially increases water resistance but it is not the most important point. The most important is to recover leather properties. Unfortunately, full recovery is impossible, to be more precise –; recovery of leather flexibility for preventing its crispiness and shrinking.

Heating of leather is realized with help of hair drier at high heat level (it is necessary to open leather pores). Without heating or at low heating the preparation stays on leather surface so the action renders senseless. Therefore, it would be right to heat a small area of leather with hair drier at low heat level and treat the same place with preparation. The scheme is as following: a boot is pressed between one’;s legs, hair drier in one hand and tube with penetration in another one. Frequency of procedure. As the aim is to recover flexibility lost at washing useful elements out of leather, Certainly after backpackings where there was a lot of water. If there was no water influence during backpacking (hard to imagine but it is possible) there is no acute need to do it. In general, it is often recommended to do it regularly.

Leather type is of no importance. Only nubuk changes its color (gets darker), penetration does not affect its other properties (in case of big desire you can "fluff wool" with a brush). By the way, as compared with smooth leather, nubuk is less resistible to water and mud than leather is.

- It is clear that just before backpacking sparging of boots at 20 cm distance is needed. They will be dry within not less than 24 hours. It is often recommended sparging onto wet surface (by the way, the best distribution on the surface could be done just after washing). - It is impossible to spoil Gore-Tex by penetration if you always act following the guide. The only known means to spoil Gore-Tex boots when treating the footwear is to chock pores up trying to wash the inner side with washing powder. The membrane itself does not require any care. If there is no membrane, that is backing is also made of leather, it is worth to smear it regularly with usual cream for hand clam. Salt from feet dries the inner side rendering it hard, then crispy. - Certainly, treating boots it is important to dry them (after washing as well as after penetration) only at room temperature. No way, do not dry them on the sun, steam heating or above stove. Everybody is supposed to know it. Otherwise, leather crispiness, shrinking and tearing seams are expected.

As to lard, oil, fats, etc, for example, Lova announced: “;Yes, fat and oil render footwear almost water proof. But at that, the boot looses its robustness and its pores get chocked up. As a result of this the boot “;stops breathing”; and we have gumboot effect”;. Let’;s start with footwear. Usually, boots and some other footwear are kept in backpacking (usually we take light sandals). Boots for tour should be comfortable, water resistant and have a good bottom. In boots for mountaineering, backpacking and extremal tourism most of manufacturers use Vibram bottoms. These bottoms are made of high-duty, wear-resistance gum which does not loose its properties at very low as well as at significantly high temperature, high humidity, and having high “;sticking property”; to almost any kind of surface.