Congratulations on your choice of Mountain Tools SuperGaiters™ with Stealth™ Rubber Rands. You’re about to add significant warmth and weather protection to your mountain or expedition double boots with the added durability and high friction climbing performance of genuine Five Ten Stealth™ Rubber.
For best results, your SuperGaiters™ must fit snugly. Here are some tips to make installation as easy as possible. Warming the gaiters inside your sleeping bag, parka or inside a warm room make it even easier (do not apply heat directly to any part of the SuperGaiter™). Ditto if the boot is held firmly, leaving hands free to work with. Wearing the boot, holding it between your knees or getting your partner to help are all options.

1. Unzip both SuperGaiters™ fully. There is a “right” and a “left” (the zipper flap opens to the outside and the metal D-ring is on the outside as well) Push the toe of your boot in through the top of the SuperGaiter™ and out the big hole in the rand (at the front).

2. Turn the boot over (if you are not wearing it) and pull the heel opening (of the rand) back and into position - up and over the heel. You may need to tug on the instep strap in front of the heel (the part of the rand that goes under the sole) to get it properly seated. If you are wearing the boot, carefully grab the rubber heel rand and pull it up and into position. Do not overstress the stitching by pulling up on the fabric part of the gaiter.

3. Once the heel rand is seated (allow for crampon heel cam), grab the instep strap and pull it towards the toe, stretching the rubber around the heel forward.

4. Turn the boot so the toe is facing you and the boot is right side up (or get your partner to help). Flip the toe rubber rand up and inside out (forming an upturned rim). With the boot held firmly, grab the upturned rand with the fingers from both hands and place both your thumbs on the toe of the boot.
Pull the rand with your fingers and push against the boot with your thumbs to stretch the rand forward. You may need to “coax” the sides forward (the Stealth™ Rubber is high friction). Once you have stretched the rand out over the boot toe, fold it down into position, leaving the web strap extending below the bottom edge of the rand. The web strap provides a mechanical connection for the toe of the SuperGaiter as held in place by a ski or crampon binding.

5. Fine tune the position of the SuperGaiter™ rand to be slightly above the grooves in the boot where your bindings attach.
Most climbers will leave SuperGaiters™ on their boots for the duration of the climb, expedition or season. If you do a lot of “post holing” in snow, consider temporarily gluing the toes of the SuperGaiters™ to your boots with Barge Cement (available from us or a well stocked hardware store) or climbing skins glue. This will keep the rands in place (resisting shear) but can be easily peeled off (with a little tension) when desired.

Best Climbing,
Mountain Tools