We’re not 100% sure that these boots were made by GH Bass, but just about every indication points that way. Though other manufacturers used it, the unique heel strapping system seems to have been invented by GH Bass along with the fabulous little piece of lambswool at the heel – a blister stopper! GH Bass usually had their logo sewn inside the boot at ankle height, and whilst it’s not there, some stitching remains where it would have been.

We do know the donator of the boots, Evelyn Harrison, bought the boots in the early 1950s, which fits nicely with the style of GH Bass from that era. They are a fabulous pair of boots coming from a time when when ski boots were ‘universal’ and used for walking to the snowline, skiing up the hill and skiing back down, often with a ‘Kandahar’ binding adaptable for both uphill and downhill. Evelyn did just that on a trip up Cairngorm in the 1950s before ski roads and ski tows – thanks to her and GH Bass, if indeed they were the progenitors.

P.S. GH Bass was an American company producing footwear out of Wilton in Maine (1876-1998).