SCARPA MARMOLADA PRO OD WMN £235

USED BY deputy editor Jenna Maryniak... who can’t wait for winter! USED FOR 1 month

Heavy, energy-sapping, inflexible, uncomfortable… that’s what I associated 4-season winter boots with. So, holding up the Marmolada Pros against my 11-year-old cripplers that had been used once and never again on a trip to the Alps, it was clear there was a whole other league of winter boots that had been a mystery to me.

These feel surprisingly light, and the materials and design are of premium quality. “Think of them as a tool, like your ice axe or crampons,” I was advised, as I headed up a Lake District ridge in sporadic blizzard conditions in the stinging tail end of last winter. Instead of reaching for my crampons, the boots adapted from stable footing on rock to easy and sure step-kicking in the snow. I was amazed at how much of a difference the precise sharp edges made.

The rigidity that comes with the ability to be hoofed

into dense snow slopes and take a crampon (B1 rated), does come with a price on flatter ground, as well as in ££s though. Once off the more technical terrain I became aware of tenderness around the cuff of the boot, and although the lightness of the boots eased fatigue, my gait felt slightly awkward without the flex in the sole. The next day my lower legs felt slightly swollen and

bruised even – probably more the result of boot and leg becoming accustomed to one another and wearing in – but still testament to the tough and unforgiving nature required in a decent pair of winter boots.