User Review: Garmont Epic Karbo GTX

Garmont Epic Karbo GTX
Above: The current Epic Karbo GTX, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed July 19, 2008 by whymper

Rating:
Use: Mountaineering, Glacier
Break-in Period: None
Price Paid: chf 550

On the positive side: The boots are very light, but still rigid, and well suited for crampons. They are relatively narrow, which makes them a perfect fit on my extremely narrow heels. I had an extremely positive feeling in the boots when moving upwards, both over snow / ice and over rocks.

On the negative side: The boots take a long time to dry once they get wet. And now the real downside: The boots seem to have a faulty design for moving downwards. Actually, when going down quickly, I had several instances when one foot was twisted outwards. At some occasion it happened with such a force that I twisted my ankle. After the tour was over I went to the doctor, who sent me to an orthopedic shoemaker. The shoemaker diagnosed immediately the shoes are wrongly designed: They are getting more and more narrow towards the sole of the shoe, producing a kind of "high heel effect". The shoemaker demonstrated to me in an effectful way how easily the shoes get twisted, also in comparison to other mountaineering boots.

I think it's a shame and very dangerous that a mountaineering boot from the well known Garmont brand has such a design flaw. Has any one else had similar problems?

I had to stop my mountaineering vacations due to the damaged ankle. And by the way: According to some research over the phone and Web, it seems that this boot is out of market already (at least in Europe). Maybe connected to these problems?