And let me give you an example of just why these are incredible. A typical day for me in the mountains starts out with an hour of snow shoveling/snow blowing. Then walking the dogs and a quick ride before work. Now my typical morning temps can be anywhere from -15 to +15°F high up in the mountains. I have owned other pac boots like Sorels and Kamiks, neither would keep my toes from going numb after 20 minutes outside. I have spent hours and hours in the cold with these amazing Baffin Shackleton boots and not had cold feet. Frankly they are amazing.
One sport that gets my feet colder than anything else is fat biking. Since there is no impact on your feet they tend to go numb easy. I have been on tons of rides where my feet normally would have gone numb. But not with these boots. The sole has an aggressive tread which sticks to my platform pedals like glue.
The Shackleton has a rubber lower with a leather upper. The laces run through sturdy d-rings and are adjusted with a cord lock. The cord lock is great, I have a pair of mountaineering boots that the laces always loosen up on. There is nothing worse than to take your gloves off to fiddle with snow covered laces. This is never a problem with the Baffin cord lock system.
The top of the boot has a waterproof snow collar built in. And with such a high boot you are rarely above the cuff in most snow.
If you want to wear bibs over top of the Baffin Shackleton they should be of the ski /snowboard variety as the boots are pretty big. They fit fine under my Mountain Hardware bibs.
In the above pic I am wearing Mountain Hardware bibs over top of the Baffin Shackleton. In 18″ of snow I didn’t get a drop of snow in them. The day this pic was taken it was 5°F and my feet never got cold. Amazing!
Now the insulation is just plain crazy. It has a liner that is about 1″ thick and warmer than you can imagine. If you somehow manage to wear out the insulated liner, Baffin sells replacements.
I read a lot of reviews on line discussing sizing. Saying to go as much as 2 sizes up. This is all wrong. I am a 10.5 and purchased an 11. When you first put them on they are a bit tight. But that is because of all of the insulation. Wear them 2 or 3 times and they will pack in and fit perfectly. So buy your size, or up half a size if you are in between sizes.
As a testament to just how great these are, my wife bought a pair of Baffin Chloe boots to ride and snowshoe in after wearing mine to let the dogs out one day.
I can’t say enough good things about the Baffin Shackleton boot. It is a warm, burly well made boot. These clod stompers are packed with insulation gigantic, and in fact you shouldn’t drive with them on, you’ll hit two pedals at the same time! But I have never, ever experienced warmer feet and for longer times. If you need to spend time in really cold and snowy places, get the Baffin Shackleton.
These are for serious cold. If you are out in the 30s, then your feet will be too warm. I have another pair of insulated lighter hiking boots I wear on days like that. But when it is below 15 and you want warm feet, pick these up.
Baffin Says: http://www.baffin.com/product-p/polam006.htm
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• Waterproof leather upper
• Multi D-Ring lacing for fastening
• Waterproof nylon snow collar