Gear Review: Zamberlan 1025 Tofane NW GTX Hiking Boot

The Zamberlan 1025 Tofane NW Gore-Tex Hiking Boot is a big, burly, badass hiking boot. They’re built with a beautiful hazelnut colored full-grain leather upper thats complimented on the inside with a Gore-Tex lining that provides amazing waterproofing. The soles of the Tofane boot are made with Norwegian welt construction, meaning the Vibram soles are stitched to the upper instead of glued, ensured maximum durability, as well as giving you the added bonus of being able to easily replace the sole down the road.

Surprisingly considering how big and beefy these boots are they fit surprisingly well out of the box with a very short break in period. It only took me about 3 hiking trips before I felt comfy in these things. My first big trip out with these things was with my lady Laura Anderson and we went backpacking out on Olympic Peninsula here in Washington State. The footbeds are pretty damn comfortable for a heavy duty backpacking boot like this and they are even removable if you decide you want to put in custom insoles. The inner Nylon lining help manage moisture for comfort and blister control, and the Gore-Tex liner is quite breathable compared to similarly lined boots.

There is 2 things about these boots that should be no surprise really, but are worth mentioning here. The price and the weight. They’re on the heavy side for a hiking boot, placing them in the heavy-loaded-down-backpacking boot category for me. As far as price, these big guys will you run you somewhere between $400-$500 depending on where you purchase them. Having that kind of price tag places them in high end of pricing for boots like this, but if you’re currently looking for boots, you already know that though.

Overall, I really love these boots. Sure, they’re on the heavy side, and a little pricey, but they are an absolutely dope looking piece of footwear that has everything I need in a boot here in the PNW. You’d be hard pressed to find a nicer looking, more reliable, longer lasting boot than the Zamberlan 1025 Tofane NW GTX, so go ahead, ball out, order ‘em player!

*Update for 2022* If you’re wondering about longevity, this original blog post is from fall 2018. It’s now fall 2022 and these boots are still holding up almost 5 years later. I have worked in ‘em, hiked in ‘em, camped in ‘em and they’re still solid as ever.