Pataguchi flip flops w crampons

Patagonia alpine style foot ware beta? 

Looking for lightweight shoe / boot / crampons suggestions.  Cheers!!!

Depends what you want to do with it. The Salomon X Alp Carbon 2 is super lightweight. 

 Not looking to do any mixed climbing or ice climbing.  Looking at easier objectives. Anyone get away with approach shoes w strap ones?

jai anderson wrote:

 Not looking to do any mixed climbing or ice climbing.  Looking at easier objectives. Anyone get away with approach shoes w strap ones?

I mean Alex honnold did with Tommy Caldwell on their Fitz Roy traverse.

Size the bails right and you can totally put a set of crampons on flip flops.

In all seriousness though, yup, approach shoe plus aluminum crampon is the way to go for most rock routes in Chalten. Things like Chiaro di Luna on St Ex. I like having a leather approach shoe both cause they're more durable and so you can put a layer of snow seal on them to make them a bit more waterproof and keep your feet a bit happier. 

jai anderson wrote:

 Not looking to do any mixed climbing or ice climbing.  Looking at easier objectives. Anyone get away with approach shoes w strap ones?

Many people all the time. 

my current set up is scarpa grux w microspikes. 

The La Sportiva TX4 Mid GTX (or equivalent) plus aluminum strap ons mentioned by Steve are my go to for snow/glacier approach for rock routes and have served many other folks I know well.  

Also, be strategic about when you travel on the steeper exposed glacial ice.  Much safer when things are a bit softer.  Tennis shoes and ok fitting aluminum crampons on 30 degree frozen glacier snow/ice can be pretty scary and insecure with significant fall consequences. A steel front and aluminum heel combo can help increase security, but you get the weight penalty.

having just came back from patagonia.... some thoughts for you

1) approaches entail mellow trail, followed by things like endless moraine, scree,  steep moraine, glacier travel, steep bergschrunds, snow/rock glisadding etc.... Its hard to find a shoe that is optimal for all those conditions. As with everything in climbing, skill and technique increases your margin of error. 

2) honnold and caldwell did the traverse in very dry conditions. Things are not always that way. For different conditions/different routes, anything from a tennis shoe to a full on alpine boot are appropriate. 

3) wouldn't recommend leather-based shoes-- they take forever to dry. 

Popular options that I saw were the  Salomon X Alp Carbon 2 (if not planning to do any ice climbing routes) and the lightweight scarpa ribelle boots. I also saw a lot of people using running shoes for the initial parts of approaches, then switching to bigger boots once in the true alpine. 

best,

matt