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Walking barefoot in Iceland is not an option and never was. For centuries my people wore skin shoes, mainly made of sheep skin. My father, born 1918 told me that the best invention of all was the Wellingtons. He got his first ones at the age of 15 when he was working in a road-construction team. That was the first summer he wasn't having wet feet every day. 

I have had all kinds of walking/hiking shoes and boots. In my experience, there is not a straight line - not a black or white options in the realm of hiking boots. My feet have been most pleased with my Scarpa and Meindl Nubuck / full grain leather boots. My AKU's do not seem to be their equal. Those - the Scarpas and Meindls have kept my feet warm on multi days glacier expeditions and dry and comfy through multi rainy-days of backpacking. And they last for thousands of km. I have tried same brands, synthetic types with Gore-tex and they seem to be similar to Asolo, Salomon and other brands of similar price scale. Lasting only a few hundred kilometers of walking until they start leaking or simply fall apart. The background of this page is of my less-than-a-one-summer lasting Salomons. Along with the Asolos I'd say that they were the worst buy. Except, of course for the rubbish sold on Aliexpress. I could not believe how much rubbish "RAX" boots turned out to be (lasting ca. 80 km before the sole came off) so I bought another pair. No mistake: same rubbish. 

I came along some Asics Gel-Target GTX hiking shoes some years ago. Light as a feather with excellent ankle support. Nice price and all. Unfortunately, I have not seen them again. Seems like Asics is not producing them anymore. The boots which I am using now are Meindl Vacuum GTX for "heavier" hikes such as backpacking across glaciers and winter hikes and Merrel Mid Grassbow GTX for other use. I recently bought Adidas Fast X High Gore Tex boots which I will use this winter. As we have not had snow in Iceland yet (7th December 2016) I have only had the chance to try them on in "normal" and "muddy" surroundings - and they seem to handle (or "feetle") their purpose well. 

I have now had the chance to try my new Adidas Fast X and they seem to be exactly what I was looking for. The Continental soles are pretty safe on ice and these will be on my feet when it comes to hiking in Kyrgyzstan in May 2017. And by the end of 2018 - as well as the Adidas F X have served me, they - the synthetic upper - give in. Far better than the ASOLO and SALOMON etc. but . . .