Classic Rock: Raven, Napes & Pen Y Ghent

Another weekend with a relatively poor forecast saw myself and Stubbs head to the Lakes to see what we could get done.

Myself leading the final pitch of Bilberry Buttress VS.

Friday actually started out with some pleasant sunshine as we left Lancashire at midday however by the time we had reached Langdale the clouds had come in and started to look rather grey and the wind had picked up. We decided on taking a gamble that we could get up Pluto HVS 5a on Raven crag before it got any worst. I led up the lovely 4c corner crack which has some good jamming and laybacking and then Stubbs did the 4c traverse which was also nice. With just the crux left the wind decided to pick up and the spitting rain started to get heavier so we finished up the final easier 4b pitch of BilberryButtress. A rapid pack up and sprint down to the Old Dungeon Ghyll soon had us sipping ale watching the now monsoon like rain from underneath a umbrella.

The Napes on Great Gable.

Saturday morning we woke up in the back of the Vectra to what looked like a promising day. With knowledge of the forecast we still decided to play it safe so drove over to Wasdale head with the intention of heading up to the Napes on Great Gable. We did the approach relatively quickly and then the climbers approach before finally scrambling up to the bottom of Napes Needle. Stubbs's lead the first section up the Wasdale Crack HS 4b* which was a fairly green, moist, polished struggle and belayed at the shoulder. I then came up and led the top block, which was less moist, but more polished. Stubbs came up, we stood on the top, had photos from some nice passers by.

Stubbs coming up the final moves to the top of Napes Needle.

Stubbs then down-climbed back to the saddle re-clipping the gear before I dis-assembled the belay and reversed the route also. We then abseiled off from the tat thats at the shoulder stance. The route was ok, and I'm glad to have of done it as it perhaps one of, if not 'the' classic route in the UK. Some say its the place where climbing actually started with its first (solo) ascent. It was however smaller than I was expecting and it didn't really feeling that exposed. Perhaps climbing a lot in the Alps and other alpine regions of the world desensitizes you to these sort of things. If your a British climber and you've not done it then it is certainly a must, but I don't think its a route I'll be repeating for pleasure in the near future.

Both Stubbs and Myself on the top. I always told him i was taller.

We were both getting pretty cold at this point so we roped up and to warm up we moved together up Needle Ridge VD***. The climbing is good but after the first steep sections becomes a little easy and dis-jointed so it was nice to be moving together and quickly. We topped out in ever increasing winds and headed down Great Hell Gate to the bottom Tophet Wall our third objective for the day. Unfortunately just as we'd put the packs down the spitting rain evolved into a similar monsoonal shower that we saw the previous day, deja vu. A fast descent scree running led us down to the valley where we proceeded to run back to Wasdale Head, arriving back at the car absolutely soaked to the skin.

Final section of Needle Ridge, with Wasdale and the sea in the background.

We woke up on Sunday morning, after it hadn't really stopped raining since it started the previous afternoon and decided to try and climb anything in the Lakes would be pretty foolish and probably not that enjoyable so instead we drove to Yorkshire to do Red Pencil Direct HS 4b on Pen Y Ghent one of the last Classic Rock ticks left in the North for both of us.

Stubbsy, showcasing his love of British weather.

Surprisingly, considering we had not got a map of the area bar a 1:250,000 AA road map and no guidebook, and all we knew was that it was a 30m pitch of gritstone climbing somewhere on the side of Pen Y Ghent with a 1-1.5 hour walk in all went well. We approached by the summit, overtaking many many ramblers, then descended and traversed into the crag as the clag came in and stumbled upon what we deiced was the route. If it wasn't for the fact that the rock was pretty wet and green the climb would of been really good and I can completely see why its in Ken Wilson's book. It is however quite a long way to walk for one pitch of climbing.

Me leading Red Pencil.

So, while the weather could of been kinder, a good weekend where we still managed to get a reasonable amount done.

Langdale: Gimmer & Pavey

The forecast was mediocre for Sunday, predicting cool, cloudy weather with a chance of showers and the possibility of sunny spells in the afternoon. After coming back from the Alps and not doing much for two weeks I fancied a big day in the mountains getting in some climbing and some summits.

Looking up to Gimmer Crag.

We left the Old Dungean Ghyll car park at around 10:30pm and headed up Mickeldore before striking off up to Gimmer Crag. We got a few showers on the way up but there was a breeze and things seemed to dry off quite quickly. Once at the foot of the lower section of the north west face we decided on North West Arete VS 4b*** to get us up to Ash Tree ledge. The route was excellent with some great varied climbing, starting with face climbing, before a crack and then a stiff move through an overhang before finishing up the wonderfully exposed arete. The top section was a little spicy as it started to rain just as I'd reached the arete. The main pitch is also a long way of fairly sustained climbing being 40-50m which is awesome.

Jonny coming up the final bit of North West Arete.

Once we topped out of North West Arete we'd intended to do 'F' Route on the upper face which is another classic VS but unfortunately it looked quite wet and it was much windier then we expected so we dropped our expectations and instead headed up 'D' Route S+ *** quickly to get us to the top of the crag. The climbing on this was good for the grade and steady all the way up.

Heading down from Harrison Stickle to Stickle Tarn.

We topped out, de-geared and scrambled the rest of the way to the summit of Loft Crag before dropping down, back up over Harrison Stickle and down to Stickle Tarn in improving weather. We skirted round the lake and headed up Jack's Rake 1 the classic scramble to the horizontal ledge at about 2-3rds height where we geared up for the Golden Slipper HVS 4c,5a,4a ***.

Jonny coming up the final moves of the 5a slab on Golden Slipper.

I thought the first pitch was fairly soft for 4c, comparing it to the kind of moves North West Arete had on it at allegedly 4b. The meat of the route though is the second 5a pitch up the exposed steepening slab. Gear is better than it looks for the first half with you managing to find a bomber wire or small cam every 3-4m. Once you reach the top of the small corner on the slap it steepens again and you make quite tenuous traverse before topping out above your gear, you wouldn't deck if you fell but I still found it a little scary being right up their at the top of a reasonably big cliff! The climbing in on very abrasive and featured rhyolite, almost conglomerate like in its appearance which means its very pinchy and crimpy in nature and you have to make good use of your feet.

Myself at the top of Golden Slipper.

The final pitch is easy and we ran the rope out most of the way to the top of the crag before quickly de-gearing and running down to the New Dungeon Ghyll and then along the road back to the car. Excellent day, and it felt really good to get out and get some milage in on rock, climbing with sacks and get to the top of a few mountains.

Portjengrat/Pizzo d'Andolla Topo

Theres not many good photos of the Portjengrat from the Almageller side floating around on the internet and even less with superimposed photo topos so I put the one below together. The Green dashed line in the approach from the Almageller Hut to Port and the Red is the ascent to the Pizzo d'Andolla and the descent.

Portjengrat Traverse AD+ IV (9-10 Hours)

A full route description is given in the Alpine Club's Valais Alps East guidebook by Les Swindon.

Swiss Classics: Dri Horlini & Portjengrat Traverse

Last week I was in the Swiss Valais Alps for some alpine climbing as a part of the West Lancs Scout Mountaineering group bi-annual alpine trip. We had a day up on the Weismeiss glacier on the first day to refresh skills and gain a bit of acclimatization. The weather has been fairly unsettled in Europe for the last few weeks, with it putting a lot of precipitation down and this could be seen as the area that is usually free of snow during the summer round the top of the Hoshaas lift was in places inches deep.

First tower of the Dri Horlini (three horns).

The next day myself and Ash headed up to the Almageller hut managing to do the appraoch pretty swiftly in 2.45hrs including a half hour for a drink at the Almagelleralp Hotel half way which we we both pretty surprised out as we've both been neglecting cardiovascular activity for the last few months. We checked in at the hut, found out bedroom, had a bite to eat and then decided to go and have a crack at the Dri Horlini Traverse AD in the afternoon as we'd been eying it up on the approach to the hut.

The Dri Horlini (3209m) is a huge rock fin, several hundred meters tall composed of beautiful looking compact orange gneiss. The traverse of its three summits gives wonderful exposed alpine rock climb of mostly UIAA III with a few moves of IV. Theres also a few abseils and down-climbs. There is some fixed protection here and there but we were last of a few nuts and cams. We reached the start in about 15 minutes from the hut and roped up to move together, we moved really sickly probably stopping to redistribute gear or swap over 4-5 times, and we over took a guided party on the ridge. Just as we were getting towards the end of the route the temperature dropped and we spotted a few snow flakes which made us quicken the pace further. We did the route in 1 hours 35 minutes considering the guidebook time is 2-4 hours we were very, very happy with.

Climbing on the traverse.

We spent that evening in the hut with some friends who were attempting the Weismeiss the next day, our plan was to head up and try the Portjengrat Ridge AD+ on the Pizzo d'Andolla. We were a little apprehensive as its a long route, with a guidebook time of 10 hours and neither of us were that acclimatized yet, but with the confidence of knowing we'd done the Horlini in well under guidebook time we decided to give it a go.

Our route started from the col to the left of the smallest peak in the center and followed the ridge obscured from view to the highest peak in the picture.

We got up for the 4am breakfast, and were out of the hut before 4:30am following the approach trail through the moraines and eventually across the now heavily receded glacier to Port, a small col before the Mittelruck. We were here for 6am, half an hour under guidebook time, which was a good start, until we went to get the guidebook out to find the start of the route and found we didn't have it. Dam. We came to the conclusion that route finding couldn't be too hard, it was a ridge route so we couldn't get too lost and we had a rough idea of the descent so we'd give it a go. As a back up we sent a message to Chris to text us a description when he got up.

Section of the Portjengrat, approaching the first of the summit towers.

The first section of the route from Port involved a little downclimbing onto the west face before a wonderful crack system which we moved together up led us to the ridge crest. The ridge climbing continues, and is very exposed with a 300m vertical drop to your right, down into Italy. The climbing is never hard from memory it was all around UIAA III but there were one or two moves of IV.

After 7 hours or so of continuous climbing we reached the summit. I don't know how far we came but we moved together and did several full 50m pitches as well. The climbing was superb all the way along, mostly the rock was sound, there was only one section with some loose rock where microwave sized piece almost took Ash out. We climbed the whole route in boots and gloved hands as it was cold, I took my gloves off twice for the two cruxes I lead. For the most part the ridge was relatively snow free but there were still a few sections where stubborn snow from the recent storm got in the way.

From the summit, we were able to follow a fairly brief and ambiguous route description that Chris has send us - he managed to condense a two page route into the guidebook into a single text message. We traverse some gendarmes and some scary snow bridges/cornices on the ridge before gaining our exit, a hanging glacier which we traversed before crossing another rock ridge and finally ending up back down on the moraine above the hut.

Ash taking a breather on the summit, with more weather coming in.

We did the route hut-hut in 11 hours, so an hour over guidebook time. But considering we weren't acclimaitized, didn't have a guidebook and had poor weather (it was snowing on and off all day and visibility was down to 30-50m) we were pleased with our effort. Certainly one of the best if no the best alpine rock route that I've done, I highly recommend it. When describing this to a friend I was trying to think of an analogy in British climbing routes and I think Ceneifon Arete in Snowdonia, but harder climbing (HS rather than Mod), 10x as exposed and 100x as long would be fairly fitting! Go and do it, you won't be disappointed.

Lake District Cragging

Its been quite a while since I updated my blog, I was very busy towards the end of June and start of July with graduating from university and then moving back home. I did however manage to squeeze a few good days in at the crag.

First was a mid-week trip to Langdale with Bec and we headed up to Raven Crag. We warmed up on Mendes VS 4c** which was good but felt fairly easy and amenable for the grade. The middle pitch (which can be combined with the first) is the meat of the route but the climbing isn't stiff for 4c. Next we did Holly Tree Direct HVS 4c*. Bec did the first pitch and then I did the crux, which I thought was stiff for 4c and it appears UKC agrees with this. Bec then lead the next pitch and I finished up to the top, its a good route and the crux is quite thought provoking. I was keen to jump on Pluto next but unfortunately the rain finally got us so we retreated for dinner and beer in the pub.

Penultimate belay on a wet Troutdale Pinnacle.

The weekend after we were in the Lakes again for LUMC's final weekend away of the summer. On the Friday evening we headed to Castle Rock of Tierman for a quick route before it went dark and did the classic Overhanging Bastion VS 5a***. I led the first two pitched in one leaving Bec the excellent 5a crux pitch which she cruised, before the short pitch to the top of the crag. The next day we went back to Castle Rock in the morning in the rain and Bec led Gangway Climb VD in the wet, the guidebook is certainly right when it says that protection is marginal in places. We then met Stubbs and headed over to Borrowdale where we went to Black Crag. Bec had been to go and do Troutdale Pinnacle on her first climbing trip to the Lakes back in November but bailed after the second pitch due to the horrendous weather and its one of Stubb's remaining Classic Rock ticks so it seemed like good objective for a wet day. The weather wasn't quite as bad as last time but we were still pretty wet, Stubbs did the first pitch, Bec the Second, Stubbs the third and then I finished up the final pitch. The final day of what had turned out to be a pretty moist weekend we were at quite a wet white ghyll where we did Slabs Route 1 S.

Bec leading Jean Jeanie.

In the last weekend of term we managed a quick morning trip to Trowbarrow where Bec manged to tick both Jean Jeanie VS 4c and Assagai HVS 5a.

Stubbs on Fishers Folly, just starting the traverse.

On the last day of term myself, Bec and Stubbs headed up to Shepherds Crag in Borrowdale for an excellent day of sunny climbing. First I did Kransic Crack Direct HVS 5a, which is a superb route that I've been wanting to do for a while. It starts with some steep, if a little polished crack climbing before throwing you into some steep moves through an overhang which ends with you finishing up massive jugs up the steep headwall - an absolutely fantastic route and highly recommended. Stubbs then did Fishers Folly VS 4c to the left which was also good fun. Bec finished off with Adam VS 5a running it all together in one big pitch. And for once we had blue skies all day.

Myself on Kransic Crack Direct.

All photos courtesy of Rebecca Hurst.

Esk Buttress & Scafell

I finished my exams on Monday morning, so an afternoon of celebrating with people in Lancaster, early yesterday myself, Zoe, Joe and Adam headed to the Lakes. I've climbed on a lot of the crags in the Lake District but somewhere I've always wanted to go is Esk Buttress in Eskdale. It's an fantastic piece of steep rock sitting above the marshy plains of upper Eskdale in a fantastic setting. We walked in getting there in a little over an hour and a half with, being inevitable as its upper Eskdale, myself and Zoe who were in trainers getting wet feet.

Awesome clean steep rock on Esk Buttress.

We started off up Bridges Route HS 4b as there was a party on the Square-cut Chimney start to Medusa wall. Bridge's route is fantastic for the grade and we did the meat of the route, doing the first three pitches, the final one which is a delicate exposed traverse. From the third belay Bridges Route traverse off via a few easy pitches to the right so we moved onto Medusa Wall VS 4c on the wonderful right-hand face of the prominent prow in the center of the wall. Two long pitches of excellent climbing led us to the top of the crag.

Medusa Wall, hight on Esk Buttress.

After topping out we scrambled up the final remaining 300-400m of height which lead us to the summit of Scafell Pike where we were rewarded with excellent views back to Lancaster, the wind farm in Morecambe bay, Isle of Man and Scotland. We headed down via the Broad Stand col, and resisted the temptation for a route on the East Buttress as it was getting late. Wet feet again on the walk across upper Eskdale and down Moseledale back to the car.

Highest top in England.

A fantastic day, it felt great to get out on a proper mountain journey, a long walk, climbing with a rucksack and scrambling, and excellent weather. If you've not climbed on Esk Buttress I highly reccomend it.

Photos courtesy of Zoe Taylor.

Raven Crag - Langdale

After a heavy week of revision in preparation for my remaining exams I took Saturday off to go out for a day climbing. The forecast wasn't great but a group of us from LUMC set off to Langdale with the intention of making our way up to Gimmer, however upon arrival and discovering some rather inclement weather we decided that the closer and lower Raven Crag above the Old Dungeon Ghyll would be a better option.

Guidebook perusing at the base of the crag, before the rain came.

I climbed with Bec, and first up we did Evening Wall S+ 4a* while most of the others headed for the classic Middlefell Buttress. Bec led the first pitch which is fairly short and standard, I then did the second just as it began to rain properly, which as I was climbing in my boots made it all the more interesting. The final pitch involves a delicate and exposed traverse to a hanging arete which is then followed to the top, Bec had this and its wonderful pitch.

Bec leading the crux of Evening Wall.

After the descent the rain came in again and we nearly bailed down to the pub, but after some persuasion and a little food we headed up to do Revelation HS* which I've done before. The route was pretty wet but we decided to give it ago anyway. Bec did an awesome job the first pitch considering conditions finding the start a bit tricky but the rest fine and even pulling through the bulge at the top of the pitch before the belay without issue. I then followed as it began to rain again and did the second pitch, which like last time was steep and juggy so not too bad in the wet. As I was getting to the top it began to rain heavily again, and then sleet, and then hail. Bec followed and got to the top just as we were both soaked to the skin, we hid under the overhang at the top for a while for the rain to ease before making a tactical retreat to the ODG for the rest of the afternoon.

Bec passing th crux of Evening Wall.

So not the best weather in the world, but we still got two good routes in and it just felt great to be out again, I've spent too much time pouring over textbooks and papers. for the last few weeks.

Photos courtesy of Rebecca Hurst.

Mt Etna

Last week I was on Sicily on a field course looking an volcanic processes on the active volcano Mt Etna with people on my degree course.

One of the many lava flows (2001 I think) on Etna's flanks. Or Mordor. Take your pick.

A intruded dike, you can see the chilled margins really clearly on each side. The black sand on the floor is tephra.

The undergraduates on the course, inside one of the several lava tubes we explorered.

It was an excellent week in good company and I learnt loads, but I suppose I should wait to pass judgment fully until I sit the exam. I'd be quite keen to back, for two main reasons, firstly I flicked through a Italien ski touring guidebook out there and it looks like there is some quite good skiing to be had on the mountain (skiing volcanoes is the thing to do now isn't it?). The other reason would be for caving in the lava tubes, we visited and got into three separate tube systems but saw loads more, with SRT gear (and CO2 monitors) and similar theres a whole other world you can explore below the surface of the flows in in fissures.

Easter Weekend - Lake District

Over the the Easter holiday weekend I was up in the Lake District on the Network Gathering based out of GT. On the Friday afternoon I took a group out scrambling with Stu Spencer, Gassy and two punters, we did the ever classic pinnacle ridge on St Sunday Crag. The weather was superb, I didn't put a shirt on all day and had my pants rolled up to my knees.

Perfect weather, and no other parties on Pinnacle Ridge.

We were quite late in the day leaving the car park at only 3pm, but this ensured we had the ridge to ourselves. Everybody had a good time, and we got some fantastic views from the summit before a jog down the ridge and a few nice cold pints in the Patterdale hotel.

Saturday the weather wasn't as kind to us, with the clag being fairly low down so myself, Lewis, Nancy, Barry and Olly went and did the classic round of Crinkle Crags and Bowfell. Being a bankholiday weekend it was swamped with tourists so we didn't get much solitude, but at least we fitted in as I'd forgotten my boots so did the round in my flip flops - who needs £200 Sportiva boots?

Sunday we headed back to Langdale for some cragging. We staggered up to White Ghyll in sweltering heat and decided to do the climb the classic Slip Knot VS 4b **. The first pitch is fantastic face climbing steep all the way. The second pitch is the crux with a tricky but again well protected traverse out onto a hanging rib, a few moves pulling over this bulge get you to easier ground. An absolutely superb route. Next up we moved up to the upper crag and did The Slabs Route 1 S 4a ** which is given 4 pitches over 69m but we managed with 60m ropes, lots of long runners and a bit of alpine trickery do it one massive pitch. It felt great to be climbing continuously for such a long way.

First pitch of Zig-Zag, approaching the crux.

Monday, myself, Stu and Julie headed up to Castle Rock of Tiermain for the afternoon. First we did Via Media S+, its given two pitches in the guidebook but I quite happily lead in one long one. Next up we went to do Zig Zag VS 4b which has an awesome first pitch which climbs a leftward slanting ramp with some tricky moves here and there. Having left the guidebook at the bottom we made a slight navigational error and ended up doing the crux pitch of Overhanging Bastion VS+ 5a which, as it was the last time I did, absolutely superb. I wasn't too bothered about missing the second half of Zig-Zag as I'd done it before when I climbed May Day Cracks.

Julie following Overhanging Bastion.

I caught a lift home with Stubbs and Rachael, and as we'd been climbing that day, Imran's naturally followed in Lancaster.

All photos courtesy of Stuart Spencer.

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.