Customer Reviews The North Face Chilkat III

Way too narrow for a winter boot. No room to move your toes, and the box is squeezing on my big toe joint. That doesn't work in the cold, you need room to move.

Heavy duty, bulky and inside there is very thick padding. My husband says they fit and are ok just bulky. I purchased my daughter the child version and it was too small and tight due to padding. Just be aware. Still thinking it over.

Nice boots would be great if they fit - full size to small

First, a comment about Zappos. Outstanding! I was told about Zappos by a friend who swore they provide the best customer support. I would agree. I was (am) very pleased with my interactions with Zappos and will definitely order from them again. And they have a well functioning web site with good descriptions of their products. Regarding the boots, North Face Chilkat III: It took me three tries (orders) to get a pair I could tolerate. The first order, way too small, was my fault. I accidentally ordered them small. Second order I ordered correctly. They were too tight as well. The third order I ordered a 1/2 size larger. They were also too tight with my winter socks. When I swapped to thin, summer socks I found the boots fit marginally; tight in the toe area but lose in the heel area. If I go another 1/2 size larger so that my toes will be more comfortable I'm afraid my heels will be swimming in these boots and I'll get blisters. That said, since I intend only to be wearing these boots for an hour or three while shoveling snow, I'm going to keep them. My hope, my expectation, is that in time some of the insulation in the toe area will compress or wear and I'll gain a little space there. I do not expect the rubber like material that makes up the lower half of the boots to stretch. The really annoying aspect of these boots are the laces, or more specifically the lace hooks at the top. The very top hooks are designed such that the laces stay in the hooks. One CAN pull the laces out of the top hooks, or snap them back in, as you do with regular hooks, but it is not easy. The top hooks, I think, are designed to keep the laces in place while allowing the lace to slide through the hook easily. The second hooks down from the top, however, are the more traditional hooks that are relatively easy to hook with the lace. So here is the problem: You're older (I am) and less flexible than you were when you were young (that's me), and you've managed to put a few pounds on during retirement (me again). You're dressed for winter with sweater or sweatshirt on, AND you have your coveralls on. And now you bend over to put your boots on. You spread the top of the boot wide to slip on reasonably easily and as you pull the boots on the laces fall out of both of the second hooks down from the top. So now, bent over and pushing your coverall pant legs out of the way (they are interfering with seeing the tops of your boots), you have to fumble around to find the correct lace to slip over its corresponding hook and then pull that specific lace up through the top hook. If you don't do this properly (tighten the lace just hooked) and in the correct order (such that one lace overlaps or crosses the other) then the first lace falls out of its hook as you hook and pull up the second lace. I get what the designers were trying to do with those upper hooks but they need to re-think their design. And they need to do some ergonomic testing with a variety of people, ages and sizes. People from all walks of life. And people who may be wearing boots for different reasons. The lower lace-up 'eyes' (little wire hoop-like pieces), however, work great. When I pulled at the lace ends to tighten the laces up the laces pulled through the 'eyes' smoothly thereby distributing the lace tension evenly down the face of the boot. A much better design than most of the other boots I considered before ordering these Chilkat III's. Only the top two rows of hooks were annoying. That said, and my complaint about the top two hooks not withstanding, because of those top two hooks the boots DID NOT come untied as I worked, and that's good as it is so annoying to have to stop working every now and then to retie. Bottom line, despite my complaints about these boots I'm keeping them. They don't fit that well but they'll do. And the lace hooks, well, the other boots I considered had even worse lacing methods. And by my estimates I'll probably only wear these boots only 10-15 times per season at most. But I will keep my eyes open for better boots and should I find some I will donate these to a charity. And finally, thank you Zappos! Even your review submission page works well. Somebody in IT knows what they are doing. Oh, and before I forget, also want to thank Zappos for defaulting to a return label. A competitor of Zappos defaults to providing a return bar code. For for me, living in the country, the bar code (their default) requires me to drive to a specific store to return items. On the other hand your label (the default) allows me to find the nearest drop location saving me miles, avoiding traffic and at least 45 minutes. Thank you.

These were nice and warm in snow and 22' weather but I had two problems: 1) the insulation makes the boots thick and I couldn't get my pants over them, 2) shin pain from the laces, I had to wear them very loosely tied due to the discomfort. I bought them for snowshoeing and general snow activities.