HiIt depends on how much comfort or how much performance you want. You could easily wear the same pair of shoes all year for everything from walking around your house, to walking to work, to digging the garden to taking your partner out for a meal followed by a boogie on the dance floor. In days gone by most people had two pairs of shoes. One for dirty jobs and one for clean occasions. Porters in nepal don't wear shoes at all until it gets cold then they were some flip flops or trainers if they are lucky. The first climbers wore their work boots and the first women climbers wore their stout shoes that were not their church shoes.
So the question is not can you wear one pair of shoes all year. The question is what advantage is there in wearing different pairs of shoes in different conditions.
When we look at the question in this way lots of pros and cons appear. My view is that some forms of footwear are better for some conditions. Manufacturers have taken this to the extreme by producing and labelling footwear as ideal for just about any type of activity. The knock on effect of manufacturers over production is more dissatisfaction and more confusion as people think there is always a better boot.
However, some boots can be worn all year and provide almost as much benefits as other boots without too many drawbacks. The trick is finding those boots and deciding that they offer enough performance for what you need and what your skill and experience allow. The answer to what is right for you may be different to what is right for someone else will be different as there are so many factors.
However, I would say if you want one pair of boots for walking over Lakeland fells and Scottish hills year round you could get by with a stiffish 3-4 season B1 boot (or even a stiffish 3 season boot if you are more experienced and stay off the snow in some conditions as you can in the lakes quite easily in recent years). That is what I wore for many years. To me they offer the best all round compromise for most people and most situations and their drawbacks are not big enough to worry about compared with lighter boots..
Others will say lighter boots are acceptable, however i would say that they require more skill and experience from the wearer to overcome the problems of flex on snow. So while they can be used with crampons and worn on snow, they demand more skill and mean the wearer is sailing closer to the wind, - to use a boating term!
Others will say a stiff climbing boot is better as that allows great edging ability for climbing and scrambling and they prefer the stiffer feel as it feels more secure, while being able to tolerate the stiffer flex that is less comfortable in the valley.
Another way around the problem is you buy lots of boots of course ... which is what the manufacturers would love you to do!
In short it depends on what you are after and what your experience is.
GT
