The death of Raichle boots

Gear news

18 July 2008 15:42

One hundred year old boot company Raichle will be no more from 2009 onwards, we learned at the 2008 OutDoor show in Friedrichshafen, Germany. 

Sister company Mammut, the well-known sleeping bag, rucksack and technical outdoor clothing brand will take on the unchanged range of Raichle boots, which will soon be known as Mammut boots with a 'Raichle Technology' logo.

Newest mountaineering boot
The latest, most exciting of the two new bits of footwear from Mammut (with Raichle technology) for next March is the Manook GTX. This, they claim, is the lightest B3 crampon compatible boot in its class at 1590g for a UK size 8.5 and 1350g for a UK size 5.5.

That puts it at around 500g lighter (think medium bag of sugar) than the older Raichle 80 Degree SL, but actually a few hundred grams heavier than the La Sportiva Trango Extreme Evo Light GTX (1450g for a men's size 8) which also beats the Manook on price at only 215 pounds.

The weight saving on this 280 pound mountaineering boot comes from a carbon rather than heavier fibreglass shank through the midsole, rock-hard fabric stolen from motorbikers' clobber instead of leather, and bonded red plastic lace runners rather than the usual sewn-in versions. 

Then the usual Raichle technologies come as standard: Memory foam around the ankle and instep moulds to you foot to increase comfort and decrease heel slippage.

New buildering shoe
Also new from Mammut is the Obelisk shoe, for buildering. No, it's not a typo, buildering is like bouldering, but on, you guessed it, buildings. This grippy soled comfy approach shoe is for town use, with a spider grip sole, sticky rand and asymmetric lacing just in case the mood takes you to scale a large, anti-graffiti paint wall or similar.

Cool black clothing
Innovations in the Mammut clothing range include Cold Black technology on some of their schoeller fabric softshell garments. This weave reflects back 80% of the sun's scorching rays so you can wear dark clothing in more comfort throughout the summer or in harsh, unsheltered mountain environments. Their best seller with this techno is set to be the Basecamp softshell jacket at 120 pounds.

Intelligent waterproof membranes
Mimicking pine cones is the next development for Mammut with their c_change fabric in jackets like the Extreme Cho Oyu. They use this rather than Gore-Tex and call it their 'intelligent membrane'. When it is cold, the fabric weave closes down and vice versa when conditions warm up and get you sweaty, just like a pine cone would, to help you regulate your body's temperature more easily.