Scarpa Vapor V sizing and heel rand pain

Hi guys. So I just bought my second pair of climbing shoes, the Vapors. I wear 45-45.5 in street shoes and the first climbing pair I got is a 44.5 Mythos. After climbing in them for a few months they did stretch and while I can definitely still climb well in them, sometimes they feel a tad too large, especially at the heel. 

After trying some sizes, I also got the Vapors in 44.5, I,m leaning a bit towards comfort,. especially now that the shoes are not what is keeping me from upping my grade. They are definitely snugger than the mythos. They feel fine, a bit hard on my pinky knuckles (I have quite a wide foot) but what bothers me is the heel rand (bear in mind I didn't climb in them yet, since if I do that I don't think I'll be able to exchange them). When I put them on all is fine, however when I get up they are straight murdering my achilles tendon. 

Would that part break in as well ? Does it mean that they are to small ? Also, how much to the Vapor stretch?

Thanks a lot :)

caughtinside wrote:

yeah, definitely sounds like the wrong shoe for you, or at least the wrong size.  

I'm pretty sure that 44.5 in La Sportiva is smaller than 44.5 Scarpa.

more narrow in some shoes maybe but not smaller.  At that size the scarpas will be a tighter fit.  vapor Vs you shouldn't have to size down with mine are very snug and are a size bigger than my comfy outside TC pros.  Try a size up by yeah intense Achilles pain is a no go.

if you're trying to move to a shoe to avoid ending up with a sloppy fit due to shoe stretch... try the vapor lace instead of the vapor V...  the lace also has a bit more internal padding around the heeltop (i own both)

the vapor v can stretch quite a bit.. I found that fitting a vapor v "for comfort as new" lead to a sloppy shoe within a couple months... which is fine cause now it's a great warmup shoe.

if your forefoot is even too wide for the vapor v?? perhaps you should also try on  Evolv shaman or Butora acro wide.. (but for reference... the vapors did squeeze my pinky toe until the rand rubber broke in to be nice and supple, but also... I've had my vapor v for 6+ months, and my vapor lace for 3 months... and the vapor V heeltop is still more firm and biting to the back of the foot than the v-lace heeltop...which feels silky smooth)

Thanks everyone for your answers :)

J Squared wrote:

if you're trying to move to a shoe to avoid ending up with a sloppy fit due to shoe stretch... try the vapor lace instead of the vapor V...  the lace also has a bit more internal padding around the heeltop (i own both)

the vapor v can stretch quite a bit.. I found that fitting a vapor v "for comfort as new" lead to a sloppy shoe within a couple months... which is fine cause now it's a great warmup shoe.

if your forefoot is even too wide for the vapor v?? perhaps you should also try on  Evolv shaman or Butora acro wide.. (but for reference... the vapors did squeeze my pinky toe until the rand rubber broke in to be nice and supple, but also... I've had my vapor v for 6+ months, and my vapor lace for 3 months... and the vapor V heeltop is still more firm and biting to the back of the foot than the v-lace heeltop...which feels silky smooth)

My pinky is not that big of an issue. I mean, it's tight, hurts a bit when pressuring , but the mythos were hurting as well and now I can wear them for hours. I'll go and try half a size bigger to see if the heel rand will still hurt. Sadly, they do not have the laces at my local shop, and apparently there's no place to buy Butora in Europe for some reason

i have a feeling almost nowhere stocks the vapor lace in-store..

FWIW I bought a vapor v @ brick/mortar store.. in 45.5... it was nice at first but became floppy (in retrospect i should have got a 45..) ..  then I found the vapor lace on an online deal for half off... so I gambled on 45 and they have become my perfect shoe several months on... so I think the sizing is basically the same between the two..

I have the same issue. I swear they moved the stitch that used to go down the center off to the side. It feels a little kinder on my heel, but I've found the best fit for me fitting my true foot size. 

I feel you. Scarpa's never fit my feet well..ive heard that from quite a few people. La Sportiva is where its at!

An option is modification! You can cut two vertical slots on either side of your achilles so that it's covered and relieves the pressure. Then have some new rubber put on to put it back together. Call Rock and Resole in Boulder. A friend did this and I believe R&R took care of the mod. He's super happy! At some point I'm going to check in with them about a pinky toe punch out mod, which is apparently also possible.

I absolutely love Vapors, but also try the V's. It's really a different shoe (even the sizing) but is my holy grail and seems to work well as I also have wide feet. Generally people with wide feet do better with Scarpa than Sportiva. I used to wear Katanas, Mythos, Miuras and others, but as I've gotten older and my arches flattened out, none of them will even go on my foot.

The stitching can contribute a surprising amount of discomfort, just fyi. You can either try to soften it up (hammer works well) or cut it out entirely if that's the problem.

Thank you guys for your input :) I tried larger size but were too large. I ended up returning them and getting a pair of Miura Lace which feel better.