Hikers trek to N.H. barn for crafted boots

Tag : boots

INTERVALE, N.H. - If you've earned a nickname on the trail likeTennessee, Junior, or Little Ben, then you've probably already wornLimmer boots. At least that's what a trio of lean and tantwentysomethings from the Appalachian Mountain Club tell me.They're part of a crew who give each other Mohawks and carve hikingtrails out of the New Hampshire wilderness every summer.
Like many outdoorsmen who pass through Intervale, the friends don'toften miss a chance to make the pilgrimage to Peter Limmer andSons, which has made custom hiking boots in the same rambling19th-century barn since 1951. The boys stopped by to pick up a pairof boots that Junior recently had resoled and, of course, to talkshop with Peter Limmer, 52, grandson of the family patriarch andcompany namesake who started making shoes in 1919.
Bearded and bespectacled, Limmer looks the part of an old worldcraftsman. He explains that his custom boots are fitted to withintwo millimeters of a customer's original measurements and that eachis fashioned from a single piece of leather, a classic boot makingtechnique that's gone the way of cheap gas.
This kind of attention to detail is what has helped the companyearn the fierce loyalty of its customers. In the shop, they tellstories about a schoolteacher who flew 60 hours round-trip fromTasmania, Australia, last year solely for a custom fitting.
Tennessee, who's already purchased five pairs, is only too happy towax poetic about the boot's design elements. The seams are placedon the inside of the foot, he tells me, instead of at the back, sothe boots better conform to one's heel and provide a smoother ride.
And their durability is nearly the stuff of legend. Limmer saysit's not uncommon for them to recondition boots that are 30 yearsold.
The barn, which had a previous life as a dance hall in the 1930sand '40s, is part workshop, part museum. The quaint fitting areaholds generations of memories. Old-fashioned wooden shoe formsstand rack upon rack and a 1902 Singer sewing machine that shouldhave been retired during the Coolidge administration still humswith activity.
On one wall is prominently hung Herr Peter Limmer's certificatefrom the German shoemaking guild circa 1921, along with the firstUS patent, in 1939, for a ski boot. That grew out of a relationshipLimmer had with Harvard Outing Club members, who, according toLimmer's grandson, frequented the boot maker when it was located inJamaica Plain. Herr Limmer moved the shop to New Hampshire in 1951after his sons returned from a skiing trip with tales of how theGranite State had reminded them of their father's native Bavaria.
Customer photos complete the decor. These yellowing images ofsmiling hikers are tacked to walls and wooden beams in just aboutany spot available. They capture ascents of Everest, theMatterhorn, and Presidential Range peaks. "Our customers are thebest part of the business," says Limmer. "Here they are on thebiggest hikes of their lives and they stop to take a photo of ourboots. I know I don't stop to take photos of my tires."
A minimum 18-month wait for custom boots led Peter Limmer and Sonsto create a line of stock hiking boots in 1974. They can bepurchased mail order or through Limmer's Intervale shop. They'remade to their exact specifications by the German manufacturerMeindl on a handshake agreement; the grandfathers of each familywent to shoemaking school together in Bavaria.
But the ready availability of stock boots doesn't dissuade somehikers from seeking a famous custom fit. A person once offered$5,000 to go to the head of the line. Of course, Limmer rejected itoutright. "It's not what we're all about," he says.
Matthew Bellico can be reached at matthew.bellico@gmail.com .