Review

Sandugo HELIKON sandals on the trail to Mt. Guiting-guiting.

Sandugo’s brand new HELIKON sandal is a multi-purpose shoe that is a whole lot more than what it advertises. The HELIKON is outfitted with what Sandugo calls the DriTech drain system and the AeroVent dynamic ventilation system. I know, the terms attached to the product sounds like a promise at first, but I actually got to test the HELIKON, and much to my surprise it actually lives up to the promises that it makes! It would have been a reasonable test for a sandal to be dragged through a nice little hike somewhere, after all, tramping through fields and rivers is what it’s supposed to be good at. But that’s not the only thing that the HELIKON is capable of, as I discovered. I recently took a single pair of HELIKON sandals to Mount Guiting-guiting in the off-season, climbing with a full pack in heavy rain through deep mud and razor sharp rock edges. And this wasn’t a controlled test too – I was with veteran guide Toto Tansiongco doing a full-scale mush through flooded trails and ankle-deep mud. I was honestly expecting some parts of the sandal not to survive the sharp rocks of the knife-edge trail and the 90-degree wall near the summit, but even after relentless rain through most of the way, the HELIKON performed to specifications. The climb to the summit of Guiting-guiting was a real test, and if the HELIKON can survive a climb that tough, it only proves that with the right kind of gear there is no such thing as an off-season!

Sandugo HELIKON sandals crossing a tributary of the Pawala River.

The trail to the summit is not a good place to lose your footing.