Review of Black Diamond Tall Gaiters

  I started out with using the short gaiters that I adapted as noted in the link at the end. However, as the snow deepened, I realized that I really needed tall gaiters. My pants kept pulling out of the short ones, and yes, the gumby suit is waterproof, but water can seep up under them from the bottom at the cuffs.

I wanted to get tall gaiters quickly, rather than ordering them. I went to an outdoor store and there was exactly one choice, so I bought them. They are pretty good. These are Black Diamond tall gaiters, size small.

The lower half is Gore-Tex and the upper half is nylon. The foot strap is hard plastic which I suspect will wear through, but so far it seems to be holding up. The velcro that fastens them around your leg is 2 inches wide for security. There is an elastic at the top with a cord-loc to pull it tight. They fit, so I think the sizing is accurate. I also tried on a medium pair, and they were a little too big.

I wore them every hiking day after I bought them, which is about a month. I never had wet pants cuffs after that. Success!

There are only two things about these that I do not like. The first is that they don't come up high enough to rest above the top of your calf muscle. That elastic at the top has to be cinched around the muscle. It's not enough to hurt or anything, but it annoys me constantly. I have to work to mentally block out the feel of that elastic. Bill's gaiters come to just under his knee and have a flat strap. I would much rather have that kind of top.

The other thing is that the center front has a hook that you would think is meant to fasten into the metal loop on your boots below the laces that is made for that purpose. Nope. For some reason, these don't come down far enough, so you have to just hook them on the shoe laces. Phooey. They don't always stay hooked, and you can already see visible wear on the boot laces from the hook. You can see in the top picture that they don't come down to the bottom of the laces.

Given the price of these, I wanted to be happier with them, but they did do the job of keeping my legs dry.

I give them 7 of 10 stars.

In other news: I actually did enough around the house today that there is a little bit more open floor space. I also replaced burned out light bulbs so I can see in the pantry and porch. But one other room with no light may need a new fixture. I may have said more than 4 words out loud, but I was only talking to myself, so it wasn't too stressful. Of course, the floor space means I can unload part of the car. But the light in the pantry means I can put some of that stuff away.

I also finished formatting the play I was going to submit to the Arts Center contest. But it's too long (15 minutes instead of 10). I don't think I can cut it by that much and have it be meaningful. Sigh- I really would like to see that one produced. Maybe I'll get an idea and write a new one. I'm not feeling inspired tonight. We shall see.

See Fixing the Gaiters