Arcteryx Acrux AR boot for Denali?

I’m afraid I know the answer to this already but I wanted to throw it out there and see if there’s any shot otherwise. We’re doing a technical route on Denali in May and the boots are my last question mark for gear. I already own these boots, love them, and most importantly already own them. I can’t find the specs right now but I believe these are supposed to be 5000m boots as a double fully gortex boot claiming to be solid in below zero temps on the website. I’ve put a ton of miles in these on snow and ice and have had them below zero certainly but not for more than a day.

Has anyone taken a chance on these on Denali? Is there any overboot that could make these sufficient? I really very much don’t want to buy another thousand dollar pair of boots to frantically break in but I understand that might be necessary. Would love to hear from people who have personally been on Denali before. Thanks as always!

Have you tried polartech yarn socks and vapor barrier liners, and down booties on your feet while you sleep?

I think if I have not tested diet, hydration and insulation in temps lower than I could expect on Denali I would not risk it. But I would buy used double boots. Including old plastic boots.

The question is how much are your toes worth to you.

Sam Klinger wrote:

The question is how much are your toes worth to you.

Depends which toe, boots are expensive!

just kidding. I agree I don’t want to be testing out a new system in the middle of the live game but I figured I’d ask to hear others experiences. I haven’t been on Denali before so I’m not sure.

I appreciate the feedback! Will keep digging 

N BL wrote:

I wore them when I summited, paired with a 40 below overboot in mid May a couple years ago.

That being said my feet run warm and I did feel like I had less margin for error but they worked just fine.

These overboots look like an excellent option. We’re planning an alpine ascent so in theory this could be totally reliable although agreed less margin for error 

What technical route are you doing?

Based on the weather last June, if you're acclimating on the west butt you could get away with them with over boots. Especially if skiing (having the ski boots with a warm liner was nice to have in addition to the mountain boots). If you never plan on camping over 14K during acclimatization you could especially get away with it. If you're going for the cassin, I'd be nervous without doubles. You're dehydrated, sweaty, tired and quite exposed to changes in weather. You could make it work if you got the mother of all weather windows or were doing the route in a push without bivy gear, but it's a risk. Some dude OS soloed the cassin last year in his Scarpa Mastrale AT boots.

How cold have you comfortably used those boots? Many people have ran into issues with these boots in rockies temps and the zippers are a common failure point... Not a big deal when you store them warm every night but life on Denali means everything gets pushed a bit harder... Also i don't think I've ever seen a pair of these in Alaska in my 3 seasons climbing in the Ruth/kahiltna/Denali... 

The most common boots that people have climbed the cassin/slovak/diamond with are the spantik, g2, scarpa 6000 so do with that what you will... 

If I had to do this here's what i would do:

-vapor liner:this needs to be tested... Its difficult to find a good liner sock, vapor sock, warm sock/boot liner that climb well and doesn't need adjusted often but this will keep the boot liner dry, people like the rab ones but winter hikers in other countries have better experiences using turkey bags as they go higher  up the leg and are fully waterproof/vaporproof

-lots of socks: especially on route at least a night sock and day sock but probably 2 day socks incase they don't dry overnight

-plan to climb during the coldest parts of the day unless you carrying really warm bags/burly tent and know you'll be warm at night

May is still early for getting to the summit of Denali via w.b. And climbing a technical line, but if your fast and lucky you could get away with it... 

Which will save you money- not buying the right boots or foot surgery?

Steve McGee wrote:

Which will save you money- not buying the right boots or foot surgery?

Yes I was asking if these are the right boots or not. I bought some G2s a few weeks ago after confirming they are not. 

I own a pair of these boots, and I would never buy them again. I would absolutely never use them on Denali.

- They are not warm enough. I wore them on Moose's Tooth two years ago. While they performed adequately in daytime Alaska range temps at lower elevations (~7 to 10k) in May, they were severely underinsulated for truly cold temperatures. On a cold morning when we had to stomp out a runway for our TAT ride home, my feet went completely numb. Thankfully my feet warmed up quickly on the plane, but I hate to think what could have happened if I had to bivvy in cold temps overnight on a route or something

- The zipper is a massive failure point. The zippers will fail unexpectedly and without warning. Now neither boot zips up properly at all. I reserve these boots for ice cragging in the lower 48 now, and that's it. I might use them on a summertime climb of rainier with a good pair of gaiters, but nothing more than that.