Boots that will last many many mountain trips (Scarpa SL)

Member Name: tconnor

Product:	Scarpa SL
Date:	18/09/08 (148 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: well made sturdy, supportive & comfortable

Disadvantages: Took me a while to break in

I used to have a pair of Karrimor KSBs which were fantastic boots & lasted me a good couple of seasons in the mountains of Scotland. However as I was using them pretty much every week in all weathers they started to lose their support & waterproofing. Time for a new pair!

I'm lucky enough in Glasgow to have a number of outdoor shops with a wide range of boot choice. After a fantastic one hour fitting in Cotswold Outdoor i finally went for the Scarpa SLs.

Ive never had a pair of pure leather boots before and was very excited to give them a try!

I cant quite remember which mountain these boots were initiated on however I do remember that from the off these boots were really sturdy, supportive and very comfortable. Well I say comfortable - they were for the first couple of hours & then it felt like a vice had hold of my right foot - agony! I knew that leather took a bit of breaking in so had expected some sort of pain. I have really wide feet & my right foot is the widest. For the next few walks exactly the same thing happened; 2-3 hours walking then the vice kicked in. I decided then that some serious breaking in was required, so that new year up at Glencoe I wore them eveywhere, for a week! Needless to say thankfully that solved the issue & I now have a fantastic pair of walking boots.

These boots have been really kicked in with many climbs up scree & then the running back down the scree. The grip from the vibram soles is quite superb in all weathers, and if conditions require crampons then these grip really well onto the boots. Despite the fact they are quite heavy boots I never feel that my feet are too warm. In addition my feet have never been cold or wet in these boots despite being subjected to deep bog (with gaiters!)snow, slush etc etc. I have tried very hard to look after these boots, so if they have gotten covered in bog then I will clean & wax them when I get home. After 2 years now of use in the Scottish mountains they are as close to new as can be (if you ignore the scraped leather on the toes!) I believe I have many years of mountain trips left with these boots. A quite fantastic investment.

RRP £155

Summary: great investment