25 years Hanwag Alaska

The limited-edition version of this classic boot celebrates 25 years of the Alaska and 100 years of Hanwag. It’s a timeless, high-quality boot for trekking adventures all over the world.

Alaska. There a few places that stand for wilderness and the untameable, untouched beauty of nature and freedom far from civilisation like Alaska does. It’s a place outdoor enthusiasts from all over the world long to visit. Alaska’s name comes from the native Aleut word “Alyeska”, or “Aláxsxaq”, which roughly means “great land”. As the largest state in the US, Alaska is un- disputedly big and wild. It is 1.7 million square kilometres of mountains, glaciers, forests, lakes, rivers, coastline, tundra and moorland. Most of it is uninhabited, except for bears, wolves, elks and caribous. Eight national parks and 17 of the 20 highest mountains in North America lie in Alaska. Denali (6,194 metres) – the highest peak – is one of the great alpine classics, which has less to do with the technical difficulties than the extremely difficult conditions that usually prevail here. Only 731,545 people live in this outdoor Eldorado; that’s half the population of Munich, the outskirts of which has been home to Hanwag headquarters for 100 years now.

Name a shoe after the region and you’re setting the bar high. As anyone or anything not up to the demands of the Alaskan wilderness is destined to fail. The same applies to trekking boots. They have to offer stability, sure-footedness, reliability and guarantee the highest possible levels of hiking comfort, even when carrying a heavy pack. They need to be designed to see feet safely through scree slopes, marshy bogs, torrential streams and rocky ground. This was and is – now after 25 years – the requirement profile for the Hanwag Alaska GTX. Back in 1996, when Adam Weger, the Hanwag footwear designer at the time, designed the boot he created a living legend. 25 years is a long time in our fast-moving consumer world. The fact that this boot, is still so popular after a quarter of a century clearly shows that the Alaska offers the perfect fit.

The only real change to the trekking flagship model over the years has been perfecting it by introducing a GORE-TEX waterproof lining. Its clean design – thanks to the one-piece, virtually seam-free construction and highest-quality nubuck leather – lends it the timeless appeal of a genuine classic. For its 25th anniversary, which also coincides with the company’s 100-year anniversary, Hanwag is celebrating the Alaska GTX with a limited-edition special model – the ‘Alaska 100’. Made from fine, robust, full-grain leather in homage to the traditional smooth leather upper of the original mountain boot. The slightly higher scree-protection rubber rand with lasered logo protects the leather against cuts and scratches, while the embossed logo on the leather upper sets this special-edition anniversary model clearly apart. For a secure and reliable fit, even during the most extreme bushwhacking, the robust and durable lacing hooks are made in sturdy die-cast metal. Inside the boot, the polyurethane midsole is topped by a 0.2 mm TPU foil layer. This makes the sole unit not just lighter and more comfortable, but uncomplicated to look after and more resistant to hydrolysis. There is a chrome-free tanned leather footbed and the Alaska 100 is also supplied with a small shoe care set. And the new, lighter Vibram® Fuoraska outsole with proven Hanwag PrismBase technology ensures that the Alaska 100 will see trekkers through thick and thin, in all conditions.

•  Limited-edition model, each piece embossed and individually numbered
• One-piece construction with reduced seams
• Higher rubber rand with lasered logo
• 2.8 mm (men’s) or 2.4 mm (women’s) robust full-grain leather
• Superior hiking comfort thanks to TPU reinforced midsole
• New robust metal lace hooks