UKC

I know they went bust in the  10-12 years ago and then were revived with a group of Swiss investors in 2010 - producing the Degre and Expe and Arctis models from 2011(?) onwards . But since my Degres disintegrated from PU rot last year after 8 years, I went looking to see if Koflach was still around but couldn't find products or even a whisper as to their 2nd demise. Anyone have a link to what happened to them. The official website is still there but no updates since 2015

I still have 2 pairs in my garage. When civilisation collapses the cockroaches will be able to live in them.

Split a pair of those years back. They were like wearing a pair of biting crocodiles. I won't miss them.

My heels are throbbing just thinking about my old Koflachs

Koflach, ooh! My shins, my shins.

Did you put the gaffer tape over the hinge? I always got on with my Koflachs once I did.

My dad kindly gave me his old white Koflachs for our first winter routes back in about 2009. I still have the scar tissue. I don't have the boots. 

D. 

No but the inners made great hut slippers for a while.

Yep. Taped shins was my answer as well. Jeez!

Mine still in loft. I stupidly bought them as a do everything, waterproof, no maintenance boot. So clumsy they could almost turn a scrambly approach into a low grade rock climb.

I had a pair of Viva "soft" (sic), definitely unlamented. Apart from feeling clumsy and wrecking my shins, the grip on rock when not in crampons was terrible. Maybe just the rubber in that batch?

this thread makes me smile.  In my climbing club I was regarded as a DieHard Golden Ager for sticking to leather when all others were glowing odd shades of green, purple, pink or even Yellow Fluorescent at the ends of their legs.  I did try plastics briefly, in my defence, as UK gear shops made it very hard to get proper leather boots in the early 90s but a trip to Grindelwald cured that with some Scarpas the like of which hadn't been seen in the UK since the early 80s (proper Scarpas - foot-shaped ones like they used to make! Long deceased though )

I had two pairs - bought a second about 20 years ago when the first wore out. Wore them in Ouray in -20o to keep toasty when others in leather were freezing and I last wore them on Island Peak last year and Elbrus in 2018 also in very sub zero temperatures. 

No shin problems, no discomfort, no difficulty walking or climbing. Slightly baffled that so many had problems. 

Returned to the Koflachs after years of blisters, pain and cold with my Nepal Extremes and others. Quite a relief to find they still worked fine

Likewise for me. In general, they were a revelation after heavy leather boots.

I am surprised that no other firm has revisited the plastic boot concept. I know leather/ artificial material boots have evolved hugely with more recent technology and wonder if similar technological advances exist for plastics. Plastics  always seemed ideal for the wet snow and grassy walk ins found in the UK.

I have strawberries growing out of mine at the front door.

My shins were strawberry coloured as well.

Likewise, I thought my Koflach Ultras were fantastic after years of Galibier Superguides and maybe I was lucky but never had problems with my shins, etc. And for multi-day trips they were much better than any leather boot then on the market.

I could not get a proper fit width ways so had to go a size larger which made them hell to wear.  I had exactly the same problem when Scarpa changed their boot shape in the 90s - their boots had been a joy to wear but since then every pair of Scarpas I've bought have been an expensive disaster, and I mean expensive, and painful.  I know it wasn't my foot shape as I was able to get a couple of pairs of older style leather ScarpasGuides that fitted like gloves and could be used with comfort for anything from winter and alpine climbing to scrambling hard in the Cuillin.  I had the heel re-lined several times on both pairs so well did they fit nd so often and hard did they get used.

The only boots I've had anthing like the use and comfort since have been Aku, for non-winter use.

I grant that the inner boot idea was great in huts

I bought Ultras to fit, so I thought, but it turned out they caused so much pain after an hour or so of walking I had to give them up.  The next pair I bought were a size bigger which prevented the lateral pinching  and I had all the problems associated with a boot that was too long, alleviated by careful lacing.  I destroyed the inners in a couple of years from my habit of running downhill into the valleys.