Mountaineering boot

Abstract

A mountaineering boot having: a vamp designed to accommodate the user's foot and ankle, roughly up to calf height; a sole unmovably fixed to the bottom of the vamp to cover the underside of the user's foot; a substantially sock-shaped outer gaiter which completely covers the vamp grazing the outer surface of the vamp up to the top of the bootleg of the vamp; and a zipper which extends along the gaiter to allow the user to open the gaiter for access to the vamp underneath, following a substantially spiral-shaped, curved path which begins behind the front portion of the gaiter, and ends at the upper mouth of the bootleg of the gaiter, after following, in the end stretch, a substantially helical trajectory about the axis of the bootleg that crosses the rear part of the bootleg of the gaiter.

1 . Mountaineering boot comprising: a vamp which is shaped so as to accommodate the foot and the ankle of the user roughly to the height of the calf; a sole which is unmovably fixed onto the lower part of the vamp so as to cover the underside of the foot of the user; a substantially sock-shaped, outer gaiter which completely covers the vamp while substantially grazing the outer surface of the vamp up to the top of the bootleg of the vamp; and a zipper which extends along the gaiter so as to allow the user to open the gaiter to reach the beneath-located vamp;
 the mountaineering boot being characterized in that the zipper extends along the gaiter following a substantially spiral-shaped, curved path which begins near the front portion of the gaiter and ends at the upper mouth of the bootleg of the gaiter, after following, in the end stretch, a substantially helical trajectory about the axis of the bootleg.   
     
     
         2 . Mountaineering boot according to  claim 1 , characterized in that the zipper extends along the gaiter following a substantially spiral-shaped, curved path which begins behind the front portion of the gaiter and ends at the upper mouth of the bootleg of the gaiter, after having followed, in the end stretch, a substantially helical trajectory about the axis of the bootleg that crosses the rear part of the bootleg of the gaiter. 
     
     
         3 . Mountaineering boot according to  claim 2 , characterized in that the zipper winds around the bootleg of the gaiter up to the upper mouth of the bootleg, following a substantially helical trajectory that crosses, in succession, the rear part of the bootleg and the inner side of the bootleg. 
     
     
         4 . Mountaineering boot according to  claim 3 , characterized in that the zipper winds around the bootleg of the gaiter up to the upper mouth of the bootleg, following a substantially helical trajectory that crosses, in succession, the rear part of the bootleg, the inner side of the bootleg and finally the front part of the bootleg, and ends at the edge of the upper mouth of the bootleg on the front part of the bootleg. 
     
     
         5 . Mountaineering boot according to  claim 1 , characterized in that the zipper reaches the rear part of the bootleg of the gaiter substantially at the height of the upper edge of the bootleg of the vamp. 
     
     
         6 . Mountaineering boot according to  claim 1 , characterized in that the gaiter is waterproof. 
     
     
         7 . Mountaineering boot according to  claim 1 , characterized in that the zipper is a watertight zipper. 
     
     
         8 . Mountaineering boot according to  claim 1 , characterized in that the bootleg of the gaiter extends beyond the top edge of the bootleg of the vamp along the user's leg. 
     
     
         9 . Mountaineering boot according to  claim 1 , characterized in that the gaiter is provided with a front elasticized insert which is arranged at the upper part of the instep and/or at the front part of the bootleg of the gaiter. 
     
     
         10 . Mountaineering boot according to  claim 1 , characterized in that the gaiter is unmovably and watertight fixed on the perimetrical edge of the sole and/or on the lower part of the vamp. 
     
     
         11 . Mountaineering boot according to  claim 1 , characterized in that the gaiter is also provided with a plate-like projecting pad made of soft material and which is fixed to the bootleg of the gaiter near the point where the zipper reaches the upper mouth of the bootleg, so as to interpose itself between the slider of the zipper and the leg of the user. 
     
     
         12 . Mountaineering boot according to  claim 1 , characterized in that the vamp is provided with a longitudinal slit extending along the front part of the vamp, roughly from the tarso-phalangeal area of the foot up to the upper mouth of the bootleg of the vamp; the mountaineering boot being moreover provided with a manually-operated upper fastening system which is structured so as to be able to selectively close/tighten the slit of the vamp to immobilize the leg of the user inside the vamp. 
     
     
         13 . Mountaineering boot according to  claim 12 , characterized in that the upper fastening system comprises a lace which engages in succession a number of lace-guiding members arranged along the two edges of the vamp laterally delimiting the longitudinal slit. 
     
     
         14 . Mountaineering boot according to  claim 1 , characterized by also comprising a substantially sock-shaped, inner liner which is made of a thermal-insulating material and is inserted in removable manner inside the vamp substantially up to the top of the bootleg of the vamp. 
     
     
         15 . Mountaineering boot according to  claim 14 , characterized in that the inner liner has a semi-rigid structure.