By
Kate Carter
Posted November 1st, 2009
Now that we’ve had a hard frost, it’s time for the biannual shoe rotation. Sandals, sneakers, and water mocs that are stuffed into the mud room cubbies get traded for snow boots, winter hiking boots, and Nordic ski boots that are stuffed into the spare bedroom closet. Twice a year, when I do the rotation, it strikes me how ridiculous it is that I have so many shoes, and just as I’m about to throw some away, I change my mind, because I always think of a reason why I should hang onto them.
Every spring and every fall I sort through the absurd collection of footwear I have accumulated and decide what gets moved upstairs and what comes down for the next season’s activities. Doing the shoe rotation has become a memory walk through the last 20 years of my life. For example, I have one pair of pink cross-country ski boots that date back to about 1989, when I first moved to Vermont. I bought them at AJs in Stowe, at an end-of-the-year clearance sale held on their front porch. They aren’t really boots, but are more like slippers, and I know in my heart I will ever wear them again. They aren’t even compatible with my binding system, but I keep thinking that one day I will have a guest who needs to borrow a pair of SNS cross-country ski slippers and voila, I will whip them out of the back corner of the closet, where they haven’t seen the light of day for 18 years, and my guest, who just happens to wear size 10.5, will put them on, they will fit perfectly, and I will finally be able to justify their existence.
I also have two pair of cross-country freestyle skate boots that I no longer wear for two reasons. First, one pair is NNN and my bindings are SNS, and second, I don’t skate anymore. I tend to ski where I can take my dogs, which is usually ungroomed trails that require classic equipment. When we do have the opportunity to ski groomed trails I still use my classic gear, because no matter what skis I’m on, if I throw in a few skating strides, both dogs get very excited and start barking and nipping at the tips. I assume this is their border collie herding instinct telling them my skis have broken from the pack and need to be reprimanded. It’s rather annoying, so I only take a few skating strides when they’re not looking, and it’s obvious who has been well trained here. Even though I doubt I will skate anymore, I do have that fabulous pair of Fischer skating skis that I will never get rid of because they are the best skis ever made, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll decide to take them out for a little workout someday and I’ll need those SNS skate boots.
I had to replace two pair of my NNN classic boots because I wore holes the size of walnuts in the linings. With the first pair, I didn’t know it was happening until I discovered the hole when I removed the footbed to dry them out. It was so big I wondered if a mouse had lunched on the lining. It wasn’t until the same thing happened to my second pair that I realized there is something about my feet and those boots that is not compatible. I still have both pair, and even though I’ve replaced them with something completely different, I am sure that the day after I throw them out that special guest will arrive and want to borrow a pair of size 10.5 NNN classic boots, hole and all.
I also collect hiking boots and have culled my collection down to five pair. Two pair I use all the time: one pair is lightweight and lined with Gore-tex for summer; the other is all leather and waterproofable for winter. The third is the pair of Alpina all-leather boots I wore when I did the hiker’s Haute Route from Chaminox to Zermatt nine years ago. They are the best boots I ever had, and even though they are completely broken down and I never wear them any more, I kind of hate to toss them, because, well, they were the best boots I ever had. Besides, they bring back memories of that wonderful trip. I also have a great pair of Aku boots that I really like, but a lacing hook broke off one of the cuffs and needs to be repaired, and until then, they remain in the closet. I really should recycle the fifth pair because I never liked them very much, but I’ve decided to hang onto them, in the remote chance that special guest shows up without hiking boots.
I also have two pair of low-cut trail running shoes that I use for dog agility. Except for color and age, they are basically the same. I don’t wear the older pair because they are falling apart, but I keep them just in case I lose my newer ones… or something.
My cycling shoes keep getting shuffled from the cubbie to the closet and back, and even though I know my cycling days are behind me, I still have three bikes with clipless pedals, and should the urge ever come over me to go for a ride, I will need those clipless shoes.
That pretty much covers the sporting footwear, which I do not wear around the house or to weddings and the like. For those special occasions when I have to dress up, I have one pair of summer shoes and one pair of winter shoes and they stay upstairs and miss out on the shoe rotation, as do my everyday-household-muck-about-town shoes, which are scattered throughout the house, because I have weird feet and must wear shoes at all times. My household shoe of choice is Dansko clogs, and that’s what I have on at the moment, so I will now get up and go move the sandals, sneakers, and water mocs from the mud room cubbies, take them upstairs and retrieve the winter boots, leather hiking boots, and Nordic ski boots, because it snowed the other day, and just like snow tires, I might need them sooner than I think.
— Kate Carter
