La Sportiva Trango S

This is a very lightweight boot which is crampon compatible because of its little flex. For me this model is neither fish nor fowl, because it is far too cold for use on ice and definitely not waterproof - after walking half an hour in wet grass my feet were totally soaked, even though I had sprayed the boots with Nikwax - and for long treks they are too uncomfortable. What they are good at is climbing in moderately difficult terrain; there they allow very precise steps. But if there is a long approach I will not use these boots again, because they make your soles burn when you have to go downhill after the climb due to the limited shock absorbing capability, I guess.

Walked 200 days in one year since I bought them. In the beginning those were hard days because those boots were rather uncomfortable (one star off!). Did some trimming with scissors and grindstone and they turned out to be very good. Very lightweight allows fast movements. Super stiff, ideal for hard rock walk/climb/jump. Extremely precise toe/edge feeling. Big ankle freedom allows moves like a climbing shoe. Not waterproof or insulated, only for good weather. Now they are done and I am going for the next ones.

Second rewiew after owning and destroying two pairs of these shoes. The main reason not buying a third pair is they are quite short-lived, even with massive repairs. Sportiva claims they are easy to resole but the time you would resole they are completely decomposed, mainly due to the poor toetip construction (no toetip reinforcement at all). CAUTION the new model Trango EVO has seemingly the same construction, although many weak points in the heel/ankle area reinforced.

No insulation whatever, ideal for dry weather rock climbing. After all they are the Ferraris among shoes: fast light Italian design, much broken down, uncomfortable and expensive, but you never will forget the feeling once they are in movement.