Favorite alpine boots for Patagonia

Looking to pool the community here. What are folks favorite alpine boots for climbing in the Fitz Roy Massif? Something as beefy as the Trango Extreme or lighter duty like the Tech GTX? If you had to choose one, what would it be? This is given that approach shoes & rock shoes are already with us. 

It will depend on conditions, and personal preference of suffering.  You could get away with just approach shoes.  That’s not for me though..

Back in 2011 when I climbed The Brenner on Guillaumet, and Mate Porro on FitzRoy, I used the LaSportiva SilverBullets (I forget the real name of them.)  I did have cold feet, but was sharing a sleeping bag.  
If I were to do it over today, I would maybe do the same weight of boot.  That would be assuming the technology has gotten better.  More warmth and less weight.  Otherwise I might go a tad heavier.  All personal preference.  How do your feet usually do? Always cold, or.....

It’s good to go with many options.  This way if conditions dictates rock climbing, yay.  If conditions dictate more mixed, yay.  Going too light will limit things, so think about that if you are going to have a one for all. 

The Torre massif would require a tad heavier, in my honest opinion.  Batura, or G2 Sportiva boots. (Or whatever the other brand equivalent is that fits your foot..)

Hope this helps.

I thought that the Trango extremes would be pretty ideal most of the time, as Cor said, conditions vary quite a bit but it's usually not all that cold, I had G5's for a couple of objectives in the Torre massif and was usually way too warm, YMMV depending a lot on what routes you are trying and your luck with the weather, when I was there it turned into pretty much a mixed climbing trip, I don't think our rock shoes left the hostel, and it would have been grim without boots that took a fully automatic crampon and real ice tools...also figure that you will be doing a significant amount of your walking in approach shoes, something that is easy to fit in the pack is good...

After climbing in the Fitz Massif last season, and never having quite the right footwear, this is a great question. We went with trail runners, rock shoes, low top approach shoes, and full Nepal Cube ice boots. We were able to climb Guillomet, the Affanasseif on Fitz, and the Austriaca on De l’S, and we used many different combinations of footwear and crampons.

For example, on De l’S we were in approach shoes and aluminum crampons, and then rock shoes for the final pitches. The Affanasseif we were in mostly approach shoes, and for the Amy/South crest traverse in Guillomet we were in ice boots the whole time.

I think the best footwear is a light, waterproof, semi-auto crampon compatible 3-season boot, like the Scarpa Rebelle Tech or the Mammut Tais Light GTX. Combine those with either full aluminum or mixed steel front section crampons for good versatility. Do most of the long flat trail approach in trail runners, stash them, and continue in 3 season boots and rock shoes for the rest. And for the ice and mixed routes use light ice boots like G5’s or Phantom Techs. 

Christian Black wrote:

I think the best footwear is a light, waterproof, semi-auto crampon compatible 3-season boot, like the Scarpa Rebelle Tech or the Mammut Tais Light GTX. Combine those with either full aluminum or mixed steel front section crampons for good versatility. Do most of the long flat trail approach in trail runners, stash them, and continue in 3 season boots and rock shoes for the rest. And for the ice and mixed routes use light ice boots like G5’s or Phantom Techs. 

I'd agree with this.

If your plan is to do mostly rock routes on the smaller peaks (i.e., Chiaro di Luna, Rubio y Azul, Brenner, Anglo-Americana), then you can totally get away with a mid or high top approach shoe and aluminum crampons. I wished I had that setup when I was there. Otherwise, listen to Christian.

Radical, super helpful info here. As with everything in climbing, it's all super conditions dependent. You can climb a route in rock shoes and then a week after snow you'll not a waterproof alpine boot. Thanks for the responses!

Thread Resurrection! 

Here's the quiver i'm working with in order of lightest to heaviest:

La Sportiva Helios trail runners, Scarpa Crux approach shoe, Scarpa Zodiac GTX approach boot, La Sportiva Trango GTX 3/4 shank, Lowa Alpine Ice GTX

Paired with: 

Camp aluminum universal crampons, Grivel semi-auto, and BD Stingers. 

What do you bring, what do you leave at home?

Andrew Reed wrote:

Thread Resurrection! 

Here's the quiver i'm working with in order of lightest to heaviest:

La Sportiva Helios trail runners, Scarpa Crux approach shoe, Scarpa Zodiac GTX approach boot, La Sportiva Trango GTX 3/4 shank, Lowa Alpine Ice GTX

Paired with: 

Camp aluminum universal crampons, Grivel semi-auto, and BD Stingers. 

What do you bring, what do you leave at home?

What are your goal routes? It varies.

Andrew your boot/shoe selection looks pretty ideal.  I’ve never worn those Lowa boots so not sure how they compare to something like a Batura, which is the heaviest boot I’ve ever used down there.

Only thing I’d change with the crampons is to go with aluminum backs with the steel fronts.  Not really much steep weird glacier walking there so no need for the steel back there.

Matt, 

Here's the link to the google sheet for routes: Patagonia Climb Wish List

Mikey, 

Crampon selection has definitely been an issue for me thus far.  What combo has been your favorite for steel front/ally back?