Calluses and Crayon: the Arrogance of choosing Chromepak for the Thunderdome

My first day wearing these boots I suited up with my Father in-law to tend his beehives and on the last day of the Dome I was beating them up on mining tailing piles and blackberry thickets chasing a toddler. I have worn these in the ash of the Dixie fire, the sagebrush of the Eastern Sierras, the Oak Woodlands of Northern Alabama, Snow, Torrential rain, record heat, countless highway miles and approximately 133 daycare walks. These have also walked with me to the office and sat at my desk for hours upon hours of desk-jockeying. Because I knew Chromepak was legendary for its durability I threw everything I could think of at these boots and they didn’t blink- I think my feet have deeper scars from the break in process than they got over the entire dome.

The olive Chromepak has been phenomenally resilient and yet picked up some really serious character as the contest went on. I dove straight in to wearing these constantly when I was visiting family in Alabama and the break in period was pretty brutal- there is a reason they made large engine gaskets out of this stuff and these boots were more narrow than I was expecting. I recommend being certain of your exact fit if you are going to opt for Chromepak as this leather does not give up the fight easily! For care I did a single late season conditioning with VSC but other than that all of the surface damage from any abuse I threw at them could be erased in minutes with a horsehair brush. Scrapes from boulders and sagebrush gouges and mouse gnawing and scrambling up scree would leave the leather looking completely ruined but simply wearing the boots more and brushing at the end of the day would erase 99% of the abuse. I will definitely be buying more boots in Chromepak it’s truly mindblowing how durable it really is for being such an old formula.

The fit on these I am unimpressed by but I am used to heavy arch support in work boots- these are my first set of heritage boots.

As someone who previous to this had only ever worn Wesco, Whites, and Danner fire/workboots this level of finishing was really impressive- these were gorgeous out of the box and the construction was and has stayed top-notch. A boot that is designed to both be durable enough to handle the abuse I threw at these and still be so well finished really impressed me!

These boots have truly been bombproof and you can see the miles that these have been through- a set of Viberg boots in Chromepak may be the secret to the ultimate BIFL service boot.