UKC

Does anyone from the pre-sticky generation remember Hawkins rock boots?

The "Master" was fairly popular at one point and endorsed by Joe Brown in adverts (hence the name) but I recently came across a pair in my garage which I don't recall seeing in use.

It says GTH on the side and they are a blue/ turquoise colour (there was another blue rock boot in the EB era but I can't remember its name).

If anyone has climbed in GTH boots I'd like to know what it was like because I can't believe how stiff these are; it feels like the insole is made from plywood.

(I don't know myself because they are a mystery item, unknown ownership and absolutely mint in condition)

In reply to Tom Valentine:

The original Hawkins Master was a white/pale grey colour, similar to the colour of Fires. I never used them, but a mate did, and complained that a seam on the inside across the toes made them very uncomfortable to wear. There was a blue/turquoise rock boot around in the EB era, known as Gollies, but I never used them and don't know who made them. Can't help you with GTH.

In reply to Tom Valentine: As another old git I do remember them. The company was called G.T. Hawkins from Northampton (hence GTH). Apart from the Master there was the Rockhopper. Never used them though. Why would I when EBs could be so uncomfortable ?

In reply to mike bailey:

Gollies, that's it. 

In reply to leon 1:

Unfotunately Hawkins have closed  so there doesn't appear to be any sort of archive online.

I suspect EB s would be like carpet slippers at the side of these GTH things !

In reply to Tom Valentine:

I spent my first year (1982) climbing in Hawkins Rockhoppers.  Yellow, if i remember correctly. Truely horrible, stiff and friction free.  Took me a year to pluck up the courage to just dump them and spend some more money on some EBs (which turned out to be half a size too big - d'oh!).

Consequently, my first few years saw me struggle up Severes -- until i bought some SuperRatz B-).   Infinitely superior to either the Rockhoppers or the too-large EBs.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

Hawkins also used to make walking boots, the 'Highlander', the 'Cairngorm' and the 'Helvellyn' being three models I remember from far-off adverts.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

They're not my old ones are they, can't remember where I got them from, but absolutely rigid, only ever used them at Rothwell wall I think.

My mate had a pair of the rockhoppers with yellow and black canvas uppers that he got from the Famous Army Stores .

In reply to Tom Valentine:

My first rock boots in 1968 were Masters. The two most notable features about them were that they were excruciatingly uncomfortable and had very unsticky rubber. My next ones, about two years later, were EBs and they were, IMO, the first decent rock boots. 

In reply to Dave Cundy:

My first rock boots also were Rockhoppers, yellow and black, bought because they were only £15 whereas EBs were around £25 at the time IIRC.

Later moving to EBs was certainly a big improvement, until they ruined it all with a changed design that nobody liked, from which terrible mistake I get the impression the brand never really recovered.

In reply to leon 1:

A mate of mine had Rockhoppers, he took a few lobs when he passed the limit of friction with distressing ease. I bought a pair of "super calanques" which had comparitively good friction (until they wore out, which took about 2 gritstone routes with poor footwork)

In reply to Rob Parsons:

I had Hawkins Pinnacles which I think were essentially Helvellyns but with extra leather layer beneath the vibram sole for more rigidity...quite good and lasted a long time. If I remember correctly Helvellyns were a very popular walking boot made in the UK and so they were able to sell them in  different sizes for those with unequal left and right feet.

In reply to cragtyke:

They can't be yours because they are mint and unused. They have no size indication but I guess about a ten. Anyway why would I have your stuff in my garage - far more likely that you have purloined some of mine.

In reply to Fredt:

No clue about Gollies' manufacturer, though......

In reply to Tom Valentine:

Thought you might have borrowed them for Joe, but they weren't mint apart from the wearproof rubber soles.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

I bought mine about the same time. They were a distinct improvement on Woolies plimsolls. IMO they were actually quite good, especially with positive holds and some cracks, being quite stiff and pokey. They lasted well (still in loft); I tried EBs later but didn't like them (probably due to poor technique).

In reply to cragtyke:

OK they're yours. 

Name the route and I'll bring the camera.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

First long route I did in my Masters was CB,Scafell.painful to say the least .Hawkings also produced The Olympic mountain boot,spent 2 weeks on Skye including the extended traverse and never had a problem.The only fault was that the toes soon wore out being a very short rand at the front.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

Sounds like they are Gollies, Jack Street gave me a pair to try around 71 I resoled them with school plimsole sole's a bad mistake on my part as they collected dirt and mud , soon after they brought out the Spider to replace them which were awful [[ a deep reddish rust colour ]] so went back to EBs till Fire's came out.

keith s

In reply to Rob Parsons:

my first 'non-handmedown' walking boots were Hawkins 'the scafell'.  lasted ages until my feet got too big.

In reply to graeme jackson:

I started climbing in my walking boots, Hawkins scafell. Got up to vs before getting some EBs.

The big breakthrough was putting glasses on and using some footholds.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

Just found a mention of Gollies being made by MOAC which sounds right, come to think of it.

In reply to Rob Parsons:

Gosh, that is taking me back.  My first ever pair of walking boots were a Hawkins model, though I can't remember which one ('Explorer' rings a bell, though not a loud one).  I wore them for years; explorations through sixth-form days, including the Yorkshire three peaks and a good bit of the bottom half of the Pennine Way, then all through University days when they got worn in some winter conditions for which they were entirely unsuited but they got worn anyway (I learned quickly how to cut steps with an ice axe and in some really rather dodgy conditions on Steeple and Pillar just Not To Slip), then through scrambling adventures after the first 'Scrambles in the Lake District' book came out (I had, a few times, a need to repeat that Not To Slip lesson) and eventually, the sole fell off one very cold and very wet Easter Monday after my climbing partner and I had first failed to find Bochlywd Buttress and then when we did find it, thought better of it.  I went home riding pillion on a motorbike with one boot sole flapping and letting near ice-cold water in to toes that afterwards needed hours to thaw out.

I was once young, keen and a great deal less well off.  Those boots served me well for longer than I had any reasonable expectation that they would and I sometimes wore them in conditions for which they really should not have been worn.  I remember them with great affection and thanks that I shall never again wear anything like them.

T.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

My first proper boots were a pair of Hawkins cairngorms.  As a schoolboy I did the Pennine Way in them (excrutiating) and a few weeks later Main Wall on Cyrn Las (because the guidebook said that routes up to severe were graded for climbing in vibrams).  I also did Parsley fern in them as a first winter route in the boots which served me well for a number of years before finally being replaced by the then universal and even more uncomfortable Galibier boots.  No-one who had a pair of Hawkins boots will forget the odour of the dubbin that the maker recommended for their boots

In reply to nigel n:

Someone once persuaded me that for the treatment of bendy FAS boots, dubbin was inferior to a product called neatsfoot oil. It's vile.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

My first proper boots were some great fully rigid Hawkins, somewhat lower in the ankle cuff than modern 4 season but a very tough boot - when they became a little less waterproof after resoling I gave them to my brother who used them for a few years in the Alps.

Quite a step up from 1974 vintage DMS army boots which were pretty crap for walking but which I used for quite a while as I had nothing better.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

I think it was in Pouchers Welsh Peaks that he recommended filling new boots to the brim with neatsfoot oil and then leaving overnight before wearing for the first time

In reply to Tom Valentine:

"Hawkins Walkin's" were the go-to hiking boot in their time.  I wore mine for everything, including winter and Alpine climbing.  At the time it was commonplace to wear big boots for lower-grade rock climbs (just look at the photos in the first edition of Classic Rock) so I wore them for that too.  Rock boots were something you graduated into.

I don't remember their rock boots, everyone I knew went for EBs.  I felt a bit of a fraud buying EBs to climb V Diffs, but they were an improvement over bendy boots.

In reply to Howard J:

I started off in bendy boots but moved on to Kletts after a few months and they served me well enough on routes as diverse as the big Severes on Wimberry and the Nose in the Pass. I think my first experience of rubbers was leading  Lightning Crack at Den Lane in a pair of borrowed RD s.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

It'll have to be Puttrell's I suppose, no smearing required, bring a moac and some other big nuts on rope, I've got a no.11 Hex.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

My mate, Graham Webster, climbed in Rockhoppers in the early '80s. Up to HVS I think. We were from Northampton (well Flore in Graham's case) so they were the "local" boot - although I had EBs. I had a pair of Cairngorms which were a great boot - did my early rock climbing in them. It was a sad day when Hawkins closed - I remember their factory on The Mounts (appropriately!). There has been a bit of renaissance in traditional shoe making in Northamptonshire - a shame Hawkin's didn't make it.

In reply to Rob Parsons:

My first pair of proper walking boots were Hawkins Helvellyns.Did the Coast to Coast and Cleveland Way in them. Memories... Blisters...

In reply to Tom Valentine:

There was a gap of a few years when PAs went off the market before returning (slightly altered) as EBs. Hence my first pair of rock boots were the RDs in the picture, which must have been taken about 1966, when EBs were just coming back. Nice to hear a mention of "kletts" - kletterschuhe. They've made a comeback in recent years of course, re-invented and re-branded as "approach shoes".

In reply to EarlyBird:

Did you used to buy them from Faulkner's Footwear in Woodford Halse?

They used to sell Hawkin's & other Northampton shoemaker's cosmetic seconds at massively reduced prices.

In reply to Hat Dude:

Got mine from White and Bishops in Northampton (I think).

In reply to EarlyBird:

I moved up to EBs from Puma trainers, and I don't think I wore them out. I think that was quite difficult to do. Somehow I ended up with a pair of the yellow and black Rockhoppers which were rubbish, and then compounded  it with a pair of equally rubbish Hanwags like Big Ron's. I should have stuck to the Pumas

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

They seemed to work for him! Maybe the problem wasn't the boots ...

In reply to Rob Parsons:

Maybe his boots just looked like Hanwags.

In reply to Pursued by a bear:

Hawkins Scafell were my first walking boots as a teenager.  After a couple of years of hill-bashing in clumpy stiff Army Cadet leather boots with triple hobs, the Hawkins boots were a delight, light and instantly comfortable.  Did a huge amount of walking in them both summer and winter and a fair bit of climbing up to VDiff/III.  We didn't have money for superior French boots and we weren't so worried about stiff soles and perfect crampon fit in those days.  And most of us survived, more or less.