scarpa vapor v's

what do you think? sounds like a pretty sweet shoe. Anyone out there using them?

Yes, I have them. They are awesome. Get them.

What would you say these shoes excel a Tyler?

Grammy,
The biggest thing I noticed was the sensitivity right on the big toe and much more comfortable than they look.

These might be good for Western Lady!

Oh...Western Lady part 2 lol...that would be great! Thanks Bob! :)

They really excel at smedging.

I love these shoes. Somewhat aggressive, they do "smedge" quite well. The rubber is better than I was expecting as is the fit. My heels took real beating the first few times out, but now that the leather has softened, the heels are no issue.

I am glad you like them.

I picked up a pair of these while on my last trip out at Smith.

A lot of the routes there call for a shoe that will edge on teeny nubbins, and my softer shoes were less effective than the Miuras my friend let me borrow on a couple of routes after he became sufficiently tired of listening to me complain about how tenuous I thought the footing was. I was going to get a pair of Miuras, but the vapors fit my foot better and edge similarly.

If they fit your foot, and you want a downturned aggressive edging shoe, they're quite good.

totally agree. Not sure why, but they do deliver power to the toe without being uncomfortable or tweaky. Very happy with these shoes and I find I am grabbing these more and more.

I love them for thin face climbing. Excellent shoe that just feels very precise for bouldering or sport.

Hope that helps.

Weston

Chris Graham wrote:The rubber is better than I was expecting

What had you been expecting? It's the exact same vibram rubber used by Sportiva, Mammut, etc.

These feel like slightly-different shaped (wider forefoot) Miura Velcros, perhaps a little stiffer.

My favorite shoe. I will agree the leather in the heel does give some achilles issues but after a couple days it softens and is fine. The shoe climbs steep sport incredibly well and boulders awesome. Intense toe hooks are not wonderful though (no full rubber toe cap). They use Vibram Grip 2 rubber which provides awesome sensitivity and decent longevity!

These are my favorite climbing shoes I own, I like them more than my Anasazis. They have a really good mix of comfort and performance and the rubber on them lasts forever.

Chris Graham wrote:I love these shoes. Somewhat aggressive, they do "smedge" quite well. The rubber is better than I was expecting as is the fit. My heels took real beating the first few times out, but now that the leather has softened, the heels are no issue.

Chris - I just tried them on in a store, and they fit great. However, I am having that ankle pinching issue you mentioned. It feels like they are cutting my achilles tendon with pliers... Is that what it felt like for you at first? Apprehensive about buying them because of this. How long does it take to get comfy? Anyone else had this problem as a lasting issue?

Hi Wei,

The heel issue was almost a deal breaker for me, but happily they have softened up and I no longer feel the pinching that I once did. I really enjoyed these shoes this season and was pretty impressed with how they worked on all surfaces. I would hate to have you buy them and then continue to have issues with the heel but my a climbing partner of mine had the same problem and he no longer feels the piching or pain on the achilles. Fantastic shoe, you won't be dissapointed.

Chris

AlKing wrote: What had you been expecting? It's the exact same vibram rubber used by Sportiva, Mammut, etc.

Yep...so I was expecting crappy performance on steep slab, but good holding power on edges. I have not been a fan of vibram rubber...though they appear to be closing the gap on five ten.

Best all-around shoe.

Excels at edging, and the slight downturn allows one to really toe into holds.

I have heard that they do run differently, and that the lace ups may run a bit smaller, but that is information I gained through the grapevine and have never tried the lace-ups on to compare the two.

Chris,

Thanks for the info. They fit amazing, way better than the Miura velcro which is actually what i have now. Want something less hurty. The vapor heel cup also fits me better.

With your "beta" i'll definitely grab a pair.

This is a pretty lively topic! I guess people are catching on to Scarpa. Their US market share seems lower than Sportiva, or 5.10 even Evolv, I bet because the other compaines have had bigger ad campaigns as well as sponsoring athletes in all the popular bouldering flicks. Seeing Daniel Woods crank down on V15 in Solutions I'm sure boosts their popularity by a lot. And of course who DOESN'T want the shoe designed by Sharma himself!?

caughtinside wrote:Do you guys know if the vapor velcros fit the same as the vapor laces? May seem like a silly question but I've found other shoes with the same name but different closures (muiras, katanas) fit very different.

They fit length/width wise similarly, but the tops fit differently due the laces vs. the velcro near the ankle. With the laces I had some bunching and looseness around the front ankle area that I don't get with the velcros.