Chaco Sandals
By John Walter

On a fastpacking trip in Utah's High Uintas Mountains this past summer, the hiking shoes that I was wearing caused some serious inflammation to my Achilles' tendons. The only other footwear that I had was a pair Chaco Z1 sandals, which I carried for use as camp shoes. Faced with the prospect of dropping out of the trip on the first day, I switched to the sandals. I ended up hiking the rest of the day, a full 16 miles, in the Chacos, and experienced no more foot-related problems.

While not necessarily newcomers, Chaco has made some significant in-roads into the sport sandal market. Their sandals are quite unique in their design and construction. For starters, Chaco uses an aggressively molded polyurethane footbed that curves up in the back to cradle the heel of your foot, providing stability to your foot. Chaco also uses a single pull-through strap that crisscrosses the top of the foot in the shape of a Z, hence the name.

Another cool thing about the Chacos is that they can be custom made. Chaco will build the sandals to your specifications. They offer three models of sandals: the Chong, a hybrid sandal/thong, the Z1, and the Z2, which is like the Z1 with an extra loop strap over the big toe. All three Chacos can be resoled. The 2001 Z1s and Z2s feature three styles of soles, each in two widths: the Colorado sole is the regular model with a Vibram sole; the Walkabout sole, with a lug pattern designed for no-water hiking, is new for 2001; and the sticky FiveTen AquaStealth rubber sole is for land and water. For 2001, Z1 retail prices are $85 (regular), $90 (Walkabout), and $100 (AquaStealth).

Walt is the climbing editor for GearReview.com.

For more information, contact:
Chaco Sandals
1407 4000 Lane
Paonia, CO 81428
(970) 527-4990
info@chacosan.com