How to Tie Hiking Boots to Prevent Blisters?
When we particularly talk about hiking and experienced people in this field, we may not name ‘tying our shoes’ as one of the most important things to learn. In fact, a lot of people don’t take it seriously and are deprived of some extremely valuable techniques.
Besides a lot of ways to lace your hiking shoes, understanding the different lacing techniques can also help you become a household hiker. These techniques will certainly fit better and will improve your overall hiking experience as well as performance.
Also, the ability to change your laces in the middle of a hike is equally important. It can potentially reduce the pressure points and prevent blisters. Therefore, it is advisable for all the aspiring hikers to learn a few different lacing techniques.
In this way, they’d be able to adjust their hiking boots when it is required. In this article, we’re going to talk about a few important ways to tie hiking boots in order to prevent blisters.
Click here to know How To Wear Hiking Boots With Shorts
Top 4 ways to tie Hiking Boots to Prevent Blisters
1. Surgeon’s knot:
Every experienced and aspiring hiker is expected to learn about the surgeon’s knot. It is very simple and comes as a handy knot for Christmas gifts, roasting meat and relevant things. The way to tie a surgeon knot is as follows.
Instead of going for a square knot with only one loop, or crossing boot laces over one another before lacing, just wrap the strands around each other twice. After making the double-wrap, you can simply pull the knot or laces tight.
This method will stop your laces from sliding against each other and loosening with time. It is one of the most ideal and suitable method for hiking boots as you can use it to prevent your shoes from becoming untied. It will also give you extra hold and stability as you walk or run slowly.
2. Window Lacing
People that are looking to relieve pressure across the top of the foot will most certainly practice the Window Lacing technique. If the feet of a hiker are swollen then you can expect some hiking boots to press or rub in these areas.
With the bridge of a hiking boot, you can use the Window Lacing technique anywhere. In order to tie a Window Lacing, follow the below-mentioned steps.
First of all, you need to identify the eyelets and hooks where the pressure is. The next step is to unlace the boots down to the pair of hooks just below the pressure point. Now don’t cross the laces over the pressure point, instead re-thread them straight up the side up to the eyelet or hook just above the point of pressure.
After you reach this point, you can resume crossing the laces and continue normal threading after that. If this method is followed correctly, you’d see a window created in your boot lacings and the laces are open instead of crossing over the foot.
3. Heel-Lock Lacing
If you want to prevent your heel from slipping inside a hiking boot, you must try the heel-lock lacing method. This technique basically locks your boot in place at the heel. In order to try this method, you will have to follow the below listed steps.
First of all, lace your hiking shoe normally across the top of your foot, giving a snug fit without any pressure. The next step is to identify two pairs of hooks or eyelets at the bottom of your ankle, or the spot where your foot starts to flex forward at every step. Now, thread the end of one lace across this flex point as normal and try to connect it to the lower side of your two hooks.
The next step is to take the opposing lace and then wrap it twice around the other lace, across the upper side of your foot, before putting it into the lower hook and then to the upper side of your two flex point hooks. The last step is to take the first lace and wrap it around the second one twice across the bridge of your foot before enduring to lace as normal.
If this method is followed correctly, you’d see the two hooks or eyelets at this crucial flex-point that are connected with two surgeon’s knots, or double-wrapped lacings. This can potentially save your boot heel from slipping as you step.
4. Toe-Relief Lacing
If you want to reduce pressure on your toes and looking for more room in the toe-box, then you need to try the toe-relief lacing method. This trick will also play a huge role in rubbing and preventing blisters in the toe area. Follow the steps discussed below to learn about the toe-relief technique.
First of all, you need to unlace your shoes entirely and then re-lace your hiking boots. However, you need to start at the second row of hooks or eyelets that are at the top of the foot, rather than starting at the first row.
By using this method, you’d notice that there is more room in the toe-box after ignoring the bottom row and it will automatically reduce pressure blisters.
Conclusion:
Firstly before anything else, you need to understand that these are some of the basic techniques of how to tie a hiking boot to prevent blisters. There are tons of other options and methods available.
You can also find a new pair of laces in case your previous ones are not getting laced up tightly. We would also advise you to try and learn different lacing techniques because they’re quite useful and you can implement it properly when the time arrives.
Hiking is a different ball game altogether and these days, you need a lot of equipment to get ready for a decent professional hike. Therefore, it is only for your convenience that we advise you to learn these different lacing techniques. They will surely help you in the future as it can get pretty tough when you don’t feel comfortable in your boots while hiking.
We truly hope that you’d benefit from this educational guide and if you’re heading towards your upcoming hike, this will help you even more. Stay tuned, see you soon with another insightful review soon.