text: Comfortable shoes, bought them for my wife who really liked them.  She was worried about the buckle design from the start however, and thought it felt flimsy and cheap.  3 months after buying the shoes the buckle release on one shoe broke- now to get them off her feet I have to use a knife or screwdriver to open the pawl and release the buckle.  Good shoes but such a cheap hardware design flaw- look at Backcountry reviews and you'll see a lot of others have had the same issue.