UKC

Mountaineering involves all sorts of terrain, so a general mountain boot has to be an all-rounder. We look at eight models that should take you from summer Alps to snowy Munros, UK scrambles to low grade winter climbs.

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In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

The text boxes "B-ratings explained" and "[manufacturer] says..." are broken in Night Mode in Safari 12.0.3 and latest Chrome, the text is grey on light grey background.

In reply to Frank R.:

Thanks for that. Should now be sorted

In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

Thanks

I would love to see a similar article about more insulated B3 boots - super-gaiters, classical insulated boots and double boots. Especially with the recent rapid & branching development into fast&light boots (for those I admit I am usually pretty slow ) and new Phantoms and such, as it is somewhat hard to orientate amongst them all. Although for that we would probably need to wait for the new ones to become available and for some cold winters for proper testing as well...

In reply to Frank R.:

We'd love to do one too!

But the seasonal concern would be magnified even more in this case, as you rightly point out. It was hard enough guaranteeing sufficient suitable winter use for the B1/B2s. I shudder to imagine ourselves halfway through a B3 bumper test right now, with the winter we're currently not having.

I'll never say never, but I suspect the logistical/seasonal hurdles, and the sheer breadth of the offering, would always count against a B3 group test of any scale.

Perhaps we all need to move to Norway

In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

Dan, surely you deserve a single season using one pair of boots that you actually like

In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

I've got some really nice Salewa MS Vultur Vertical B3 boots sitting here in the office. You know when you just click with a pair of boots straight away... I have a strong feeling we are going to be friends. But tragically they haven't yet made it out of the office, and looking at the forecast I'm not sure they will for a while. I'm enjoying wearing them at the desk though, they get top marks for that

In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

Dan, I am kind of surprised that the Manta Pros were not included in the review. Any particular reason?

In reply to hgalbraith:

Likely Scarpa would prefer to advertise their newer, lightweight boots so chose to send those in for review...

I bought a pair of Mantas recently despite looking at some of the shoes tested here. The Mantas just sit in the middle sweet spot of my needs where others lose ground in some areas but excel where I don't need them to.

In reply to hgalbraith:

I think you can almost classify the Mantas as B2.5, they are incredibly stiff. So they feel not in the same class as the rest of the boots in the test.

Saying that they are incredibly comfortable for such stiff boots and if you have wide/high volume feet like I do, they are a great fit.

In reply to hgalbraith:

I'm sure its that Scarpa wanted to focus on something new and fancy. Everyone knows the Mantas are great boots as they've been around since at least the early 90s (that's when I first saw them). Dan reviewed the SLs recently https://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/footwear/walking_boots/scarpas_new_sl_activ... which I know aren't quite the same as the Mantas but pretty close I think.

In reply to TobyA:

How are the boots to test chosen ? Do you just test what the big companies send you ? I ask as there are some Decathlon/Simond boots which I think would fit the category and are cheaper than most of the models reviewed & would make an interesting comparison

In reply to Doug:

Gear editor Dan has said in the past - so I don't think it's any secret - that they first approach companies that do advertise on the UKC with something like a "call for papers" (or boots). With the group tests that has an overall idea of what is going to be tested - in this case B2 boots that can be used all year round. Then I think it is up to the brands to decide what product to put forward. As far as I can see that's when some outliers creep in - Scarpa here obviously wanted one of their newest boots reviewed not one of their oldest. In some cases companies that aren't advertising with UKC at the time might also get asked if they want to put their product in the running too. I'm sure you know, but worth saying to others - that's just how the products get selected. After that UKC separates us who write the reviews completely from the companies. I can say what I want and UKC has always backed me on that, not asked for me to say something different.

I've never seen Decathlon advertise on UKC, although I bet they've been asked. But I've also never seen Decathlon outdoor gear reviewed in the magazines (when they existed!) or on other website - except when it is something the writer has bought. I guess they don't really need to? Interestingly though they do seem to advertise heavily and submit gear for review in the cycling world - sites like Road.cc often feature Btwin bikes and gear in their reviews and there will be Decathlon ads around - that site seems to work in a very similar way to UKC. So don't know why Decathlon feel they need to market Btwin but not Simond and Quechua like that.

In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

I don’t know what you are talking about. It was full winter on Ben Nevis yesterday...and the day before. If you like wading anyway. Manta Pros and Thermic Boots Dryers for the win.

In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

the same happens for notes in logbooks on night mode. black background grey text. also safari

In reply to TobyA:

I imagine decathlon will sell an order of magnitude more bikes than mountaineering kit because the market for bikes is massively bigger

(Although I have a pair of them boots and, just like the bikes they are excellent VFM)

In reply to HotelR:

As pointless spam goes, spam in Polish on a UK website is amongst the silliest!