La Sportiva Trango S Evo - Review

The La Sportiva Trango has been my staple go-to summer boot for over half a decade. I first purchased a pair of the original Trangos in 2005 and loved them immediately, unfortunately I soon grew out of them and sold them and soon after in 2006 purchased a new pair of the Trango S Evos. Here’s Sportiva’s blurb on the boot: 

'Evolution of the famous model Trango S, it features the Gore-Tex® membrane, that guarantees waterproofness and breathability. A modern multi-purpose lightweight boot: vie ferrate, mountaineering, alpine hiking. Lightweight is its main characteristic, reached thanks to the usage of innovative and performing materials. Absolute comfort, waterproofness and appealing look make it a multi-purpose product. Lacing system derived from climbing shoe technology, with the addition of a lace lock that allows double tension. Innovative multidirectional ankle hinge “3D Flex System”. Double rubber reinforcement on the toe box. Rubber rand with differentiated height on the areas of higher abrasion.'

What you first notice about these boots is just how light they are, at 1250g they are some of the lightest B1 boots on the market. They have a back ledge for crampons but no toe welt, and they’re lined with a Gore-Tex sock to make them waterproof.

I use these boots as my go to summer boots in the UK, from walking in Cumbria to scrambling on Skye. I’ve also used the boots in the European Alps, Canadian Rockies and Sierra Nevada for alpine climbing on predominantly rock routes and in winter 2007 I used them in Scotland for a few weeks winter climbing while waiting for my new winter boots to arrive. They seem to have excelled at pretty much everything I’ve thrown at them and I’ve probably used them (my first pair of Evos) for somewhere in the region of 150 days of use.

Scrambling on Millstone Buttress, Tryfan in the Trangos.

Some may think that a fully rigid boot is overkill for general summer walking in the UK, and they may be right, there are much cheaper unrated boots out there that will do the job but the Trangos rigid sole has a good rocker and walks well, I’ve never got blisters in them (or for that matter in any Sportiva boots). The gore-tex sock inside the boot does limit breathability to a degree; I noticed the difference when switching to the Evos from the originals but the advantage is that they are waterproof, which is pretty key for the damp UK climate, out ways this. In the height of summer they are warm, but not unbearably so and no more than most other summer boots as they have no insulation as such.

When it comes to scrambling and climbing, this is perhaps the arena that the boots shine most in. The old Trangos climbed fantastically, and I wondered at first with the slightly wider fore foot profile of the new Evos if they would perform to the same standard. After a lot of testing I can say that the Evos climb just as well as the old ones, I quite happily climb up to Severe/5.6 in mine depending on rocktype, route and conditions. Like all mountain boots, they are never going to smear well but due to the sticky soles they do better than some. The rigidity of them makes them edge well, and the high rand helps them stick in cracks.

East Ridge of Mt Temple, Canadian Rockies.

With regard to winter use I find the boots a little cold for Scottish winter use, especially climbing where your boots are laced tight and your often stationary for long periods. If your just after a boot for winter hillwalking you may be able to get by with these. The same is true of alpine routes with long snow plods, cold north faces or anything particularly high but as I said above for rock routes they are fantastic. I have used these boots for climbing in winter and they do work however they lack the support for serious ice or mixed routes as well as the warmth, but if you only intend on a few weekends a year and can’t justify a pair exclusively for winter they will do the job.

So I’ve sang the praises of these boots, what are the downsides? The biggest and perhaps my only grievance with these boots is the durability of the uppers. A lot of the current reviews out their criticise the durability of the sole of the boot, and rightly so, a lot of climbing in them does wear it out quicker than other boots but the offset of this is that they wear out quickly because the rubber is sticky and climbs so well. If the rubber was harder and the tread had more volume they wouldn’t climb as well. You can get boots re-soled for less than a quarter of the price of a new pair, but if you wear out the uppers you’re going to need to shell out the cash for a new pair. In their design of the boot Sportiva have used a white woven synthetic material on the inside of the boot along the instep of the boot, I imagine this was done to keep the weight of the boot down. After a year and a half of use I started to develop a hole in this section of the boot which exposes the body of the boot underneath, this has happened on both boots.

Lewis Abbott and Chris Philips using the Trangos Via Ferrating in the Italien Dolomites.

Sportiva could easily fix this by having this area covered by more of their harder wearing synthetic leather, which is what I think they attempted to do when they released their Trango Alp GTX. I used these boots for a year (2009-10) after I wore out my first pair (the local resoling company informed me it wouldn’t be worth putting a new sole on my boots due to the wear on the uppers) and was disappointed. I found the fit to be quite different to the Evos, they felt heavier and less agile and I couldn’t climb as well in them. The lacing system is different and I found I couldn’t get it tight enough to get the fit I wanted despite sizing them half a size smaller than my Evos. This lacing set up does look more durable than the Evos as I have snapped a lace loop on each boot on my Evos. I didn’t use them for long enough to see if the instep re-enforcement held up longer then the Evos but my guess would be that it would have. Due to my disappointment with the Alps I bought a new pair of Evos, identical to my old ones – they’ve perfect, just like the old ones. I know that in the next few years they may suffer the same fate but if I get a similar sort of lifetime out of them I think I’ll have got my money’s worth out them, again.

So in conclusion, in my opinion the Trango S Evo is one of the best all round summer boots out there, especially for those venturing out for mountaineering rock routes in the mountains. The uppers do have a durability issue which I think Sportiva could easily change with a slight design change, but even this wasn’t enough to stop me buying another pair.

Trowbarrow

Sunday afternoon, after some getting some work done in the morning I couldn't resist the urge to head back out for some more climbing in the afternoon so after lunch myself, Gaz, Claire and Ben headed up to Trowbarrow for a few hours. My goal for the day was do Harijan VS 4c as its the only route of the grade I've not done at Trowbarrow. We jumped straight on it and I lead off, the move round the corner from under the overhang is pretty scary but well protected with cams in the break. After this theres 25-30m of fantastic vertical climbing up the crack system. It is steep and is is sustained but the holds are all there and you can get reasonable rests from time to time. Its also well protected throughout. Only one slightly worrying moment where my sunglasses steamed up and I couldn't see for a few moments... I was pretty pumped when I got to the top, built the belay and then Gaz followed in good time.

We went down and eyed up Hollow Earth, which is just to the right of Harijan but HVS and looks really good but is supposed to be quite hard for the grade so decided to leave it for a little later in the season when we're a bit stronger. We then rested for a while, filming and photographing Claire on her first VS lead, Coral Sea which she did an excellent job on. Gaz put the above video together, watch it in higher quality on facebook. A few laps of soloing Barrier Reef S 4a next to it and we were done for the day, back to to Lancaster for fajitas and beer.

Lake District Cragging: Raven & Wallowbarrow

Friday the forecast was promising for the afternoon, so myself and Stu took a leisurely morning leaving late and then doing some shopping in Ambleside. It looked to have dried out so we headed over to Raven Crag above the ODG in Langdale. The rock was damp when we first arrived so we started off with The Original Route S 4a ***, its given 4 pitches in the guidebook but in usual fashion we managed to halve this running one + two and three + four together without any real issues. The final two pitches have some really nice face climbing on them on big holds, its certainly a route worth doing if its at your grade or on a wet day.

Myself leading Revelation.

Next up we did Revelation HS * which I led in one long pitch of 43m, excellent steep juggy climbing all the way. We topped out and were briefly tempted by Muscle Crack E1 5c/6a even thought it was a bit wet. I got halfway up it but coulden't get my jams to stick in the greasy crack so reversed it and came down, I'd be keen to go back for a crack on a dry day though. For our last route we did Bilberry Buttress VS+ 4c which was excellent, especially the two crux pitches at the start. That evening we drove over to the Duddon Valley to hook up with Ash, and unexpectedly Stubbs and Rachael.

The Plough at Wallowbarrow.

Wallowbarrow was Sunday destination, and in our slightly hungover states we started easy with Nameless S 3c doing it in two pitches. Next we did Malediction Direct VS 4c ** with Stu doing the approach pitch and me leading the 4c one, which was excellent steep climbing. Highly recommended. We then swapped roles and did the same approach pitch but this time Ash lead off up The Plumb VS 4c which again was great. I ambitiously (being lazy) seconded it in my trainers and due to complacency popped off the greasy polished holds below the chimney! We then moved over to the far buttress where Ash lead off up The Plough HVS 5b which is a excellent route, technical face climbing before a jamming crack finish - and much better protected then it initially looked. I then did Paradise VS 4c next to it which gives a long pitch of climbing with interesting sections but is certainly a soft touch at 4c.

Jade Jauquet Photography

My friend Jade Jauquet from the States came out climbing with us at Trowbarrow a few weeks ago, he's a really talented photography and took some really good photos some of which I thought I'd share below:

Bec placing gear before the crux of Jomo.

Belaying at the top of Assagai.

Climber at the top of Jomo.

Bec leading Coral Sea.

Jade following on Coral Sea.

Black Diamond catalog?

Myself at the top of Assagai, as the sun set.
(Hard to believe this was Lancashire in March, two days before I went ice-climbing on the Ben!)

The above aren't in anywhere near enough high enough resolution for you appreciate them so I urge you to take a look at them, and the many others on his Flikr Photostream.

Islay

For the last week I've been on Islay in the Hebrides, on geological field course as part of my degree. We were studying metamorphic rock in particular and using the exposures across the island to tell the story of opening and closing of the Iapetus Ocean which existed between 600 and 400 Ma, bounded by the separation of the paleocontinents Laurentia and Baltica and the Caledonian orogeny and the creation of Laurussia. In addition to the outcrops pertaining to the above event we also viewed rocks on the western side of Islay which are some of the oldest in the world dating back to 1.8 billion years ago.

Lossit Bay, on the west coast of Islay, one of the sites of our field work.

The topography of Islay is relatively flat, and there is little to now climbing so apart from a little bouldering on the beach in between geological mapping I didn't clock any vertical mileage. The place however is beautiful, and like the rest of the Hebrides feels a very long way urban centers of mainland Britain. We also visited the Laphroaig distillery that was very interesting, as well as us being supplied with a lot of free samples.

Ben Nevis: CIC Hut

Last weekend I spent an excellent 3 days up at the CIC at the base of Tower Ridge, below the north face of Ben Nevis, the only true alpine style hut in the UK.

The walk-in.

Day 1 - Friday

After a laborious walk in with big packs we reached the hut mid-morning and made ourselves at home before setting out to do a few routes. Tom, Mark, Chris, Julie and Martin headed up to do Tower Scoop while myself and Stubbs headed up to scope out conditions in Corrie na Ciste. We were a little skeptical of conditions with the warm temperatures (I'd been rock climbing with my shirt of all day a few days before) but once we were a few hundred meters above the hut the snow turned to neve and quite a few of the ice lines looked to be in good nick.

We decided on Green Gully IV 4 ****, a Cold Climbs classic. It was in excellent nick with the three steep ice pitches being fat and plastic and with styrofoam like neve in between. Conditions were so good infact that we never got the rope out and simul-soloed the whole route in just over 30 minutes! It felt excellent just to be moving really fast and un-encumbered up some reasonably technical terrain, Stubbs needed some encouraging words to do the crux but did an excellent job despite claiming to be slightly out of his comfort zone in retrospect.

Hut life - Jagermeister and curry.

After topping out we descended No 3 Gully I, with a small abseil over the slumping cornice. On the way down as it was still early we did the East-West Traverse I of the Douglas Boulder, and just about resited the urge to get on Tower Ridge!

Day 2 - Saturday

Up into the Ciste with Chris today, we went straight for Comb Gully IV 4 ***, another classic ice route. We soloed up the approach slopes and did the route in two main pitches, a shorter first one. Ice was nice and plastic again.

I was quite keen to get on something a bit harder so once we'd done the No3 Gully descent we headed back round and underneath our previous route and up towards the Cascade V 5. It looked a little thin, and very steep but there was what looked like a ramp of neve at just over half height which would give a rest before the top section. The route is about 40m in total. I started up the first section, which was initially a little hollow sounding but then got onto some great plastic steep ice, vertical in places. Four screws and about 25m later this changed as I hit the neve band, which unfortunately wasn't neve - it was unconsolidated ice, almost as if somebody had just poured crushed ice onto it. With poor pick and foot placements and no immediate screws, and even though it wasn't steep I was un-confident of my ability to climb it safely so decided retreat was perhaps a better option and started digging. I got through the layers of crud and found some better ice below and got a screw in to protect we while I built the abalkov. I built one, but wasn't confident in it strength so dug a little deeper and built another. I threaded this one, and put a mallion on it so I could lower off unclipping and unscrewing my runners I went, just to increase my safety margin if it did go. Before I took the screw out I tested and waited the thread and it didn't fail so cautiously committed to it. Chris lowered me and I got the first two screw out, as I was reaching the third though the thread blew and I fell 15m hitting the snow below, bouncing and sliding stopping as the load came onto the next runner. Thankfully I was ok, I checked myself and nothing felt broken. A small cut on my nose, stiff neck and 3 small punctures in the left thigh from my crampons (but no holes in my trousers!?) were the only injuries.

After having a moment I re-climbed the lower section of the route to get my screws back. Its been annoying me ever since as to why the thread failed. My first thought was that maybe the cord broke, or I just tied it incorrectly in haste but on inspection afterwards it was correct. I knew the ice was poor but I did test it and it didn't fail, and why didn't it fail when I first weighted it on the abseil and not halfway down? AT the point the thread failed the angle of pull on the tread changed slightely from being straight down to towards one side, perhaps this was the reason.

Anyhow the fact that it blew justifies in my mind the decision to back off rather than push on up the crap ice. It also makes we think I certainly did the right thing in leaving the runners clipped as apose to abseiling straight off the thread, in which case I very well may of slid off down the mountain when it had gone. Thanks to Chris for holding me, and staying calm. I did ask him if he wanted a go but he gracefully declined.

Day 3 - Sunday

Ice pitch at the start of Glovers Chimney.

Final day up in the Ciste, myself and Martin headed to do Glovers Chimney III 4 on the side of Tower Ridge. The first pitch gave an awesome 20m of steep ice, certainly at the top end of III. We then moved together for around 150m up the snow slope and small ice steps to the base of the crux mixed chimney. I led this and it was excellent technical mixed climbing, feeling tricky as it was quite thin but well protected. Theres three pegs, each by the hard moves, in addition to this I think I only placed a sling and nut. You top out right in the middle of Tower Gap which is awesome.

Final mixed pitch of Glovers.

We finished up the upper section of Tower Ridge to the summit plateau before descending and walking out. A session in th Clachiage followed.

Trowbarrow

With the advent of what seemed to be a early summer last week, Wednesday afternoon myself, Rebecca, Jonny and Jade headed up to Trowbarrow for what was for me, the first proper day in rock boots of the year.

Climbing on Frontage.

We geared up below Assagai wall and to warm up I did a quick solo of Frontage HS 4b, rock climbing head back on. Rebecca has just started leading so she lead Frontage up to the halfway ledge and then up the second, and more interesting part of Jomo VD *** to the top of the crag. While we did this Jonny and Jade climbed the true line of Jomo in it's entirety. Next up we did Coral Sea VS 4c** which Rebecca also led, which is very impressive for a 3rd lead!

Rebecca leading Jomo VD**.

For the last route of the day it was my turn on the sharp end so we did Assagai HVS 5a** which was excellent as ever. We all topped out just as the sun was setting, before packing gear and heading off. Imran's in Lancaster naturally followed.

Sunset from the top of Assagai.

For those that haven't been Trowbarrow is a excellent venue just south of the Lake District Natinal park on the Silverdale Arnside peninsula. Its easily accessible by public transport being a 10 minute walk from the Silverdale rail station, and is a good option for when the weather is bad in the lakes or just for an evening cragging.

Photos courtesy of Rebecca.

Cairngorms: Ski Mountaineering & Winter Climbing

Saturday morning, after a relaxed drive up on the Friday afternoon I skinned into Coire an t'Sneachda along with Hannah, Joe, Jonny and Tom who were on foot. We split into two team with Hannah, Jonny and Tom heading to Fiaciall Couloir. Joe wanted to climb so steep ice so we went up to look at Mirror Direct IV 4 and I gave him some tips on tool and screw placements as well as foot work and then he did a superb job of leading the route which was his first proper ice route. At the moment its fairly banked out but still giving a good 6-8m just off vertical section. I followed and then we abseiled from the in-situ belay at the top.

Back at the rescue box we had a bite to eat and I stuck the skis back on and we headed over to Fiaciall Buttress, I managed to skin almost to the bottom only having to put my skis on my back for the final section, much to the pleasure of Joe who was wading through the snow behind me. We looked at Invernookie but decided the wind was a bit high but went for Fiaciall Couloir II/III. We roped together with about 30m of rope between us with myself leading and Joe following and climbed the route in about 20 minutes which was awesome. After topping out we headed round to 1141m where I left the other to walk down to the daylodge while I skied the Cas headwall and then blagged a few laps of the Corrie Cas T-bar.

Sunday we headed into the Corrie again and with the high winds and avalanche hazard decided to go for the sheltered option of Patey's Route IV 5. The first challenge of the day was constructing a harness for Hannah as she had failed to pack her's in the chaos of the morning. Joe led the pitch up to below the first bulge where I took over climbing this and then the crux pitch. The route was fairly thin in places, but still good, if a little tricky. Once at the top of the difficulties we soloed up Alladin's Mirror to the top.

Joe and Hannah filmed quite a bit of footage over the weekend and they've put it together in the video below:

Pinnacle Ridge, St. Sunday Crag

Saturday's forecast was relatively poor, and certainly not weather for rock climbing so myself, Rebecca, Joe, Lewis and Stubbs headed up to Patterdale to do the classic Pinnacle Ridge on St. Sunday crag.

Following the Elmhow Zig Zags uphill on the approach.

The approach follows the road, and then track from Patterdale up the Grisedale valley on the south side of Grisedale Beck until you reach the western edge of the Elmhow Plantation. Here you head uphill (South) following a vague set of zig zigs until you reach ~500m. You then contour round to the SW, across Blind Cove and under the NW west face of St Sunday crag for about 1km until you reach the foot of Pinnacle Ridge which marked by a old tree on the far side of a scree slope, with the 'gun' on the ridge being visible above.

Joe and Stubbs, on the 'gun' at about half height on the ridge.

The ridge can be gained most easily from the left hand side, but the right gives more interest and a more sustained scramble. The first section is relatively easy, and most difficulties can be passed on the left. At about half height you reach what I've been referring to as the 'gun' feature - a peculiar fallen block which from below resembles a sidearm. From here easier ground leads to the base of the crux corner crack.

Joe climbing the crux corner crack.

The corner is harder than the rest of the ridge, with some book speculating that its Mod-Diff which I suppose is fair. Its pretty straight forward though, with all the holds and footholds being there. If this is busy, and theres a queue of people at the bottom it can bypassed by the crack about 5m to the left which is a little harder. From the top of this the pinnacles themselves are gained which give some airy exposed scrambling before the final down-climb.

Lewis, Stubbs, Myself and Joe walking off the summit of St Sunday Crag.

From the summit we made a quick retreat back down the valley, which was followed by Bilbo's Cafe and gear shopping in Ambleside, and naturally, Imran's in Lancaster.

All photos courtesy of Rebecca.

Church Beck

This weekend was Ormskirk Scout Network's annual activity weekend in the Lake District. Two years ago when I was last around for the event I took a large group of people for a scramble up Link Cove Ghyll in Deepdale followed by the Greenhow End Slabs before topping out on Fairfield. It was a superb day, and despite everybody getting pretty wet they all enjoyed it. Keeping to the theme of gyhlls, this year I decided to brave the cold March water and go a for a look at Church Beck above Coniston with Josh, Tom and Rob.

With the recent high pressure and dry weather the water level was fairly low, but still deep enough for us to be able to safely complete all the jumps. It meant we stayed fairly dry, at least on our upper halves throughout the approach section. As is commonplace for most groups using the ghyll (although we had it to ourselves today) we hopped out midway, just below the 'slide stone' and walked up the bridge before getting back in and descending the upper section doing the jumps. We ended up doing this twice before the signs of hypothermia started to set in, at which point we walked back down to Coniston, passing several inquisitive wooly hat and glove wearing walkers, got changed and had a few rounds of hot chocolate in the Sun pub. I've put together a small video of the day below: