UKC

For winter 2016/2017 Asolo supported the work of the Lake District Park Authority by equipping their Fell Top Assessors - Graham Uney and Jon Bennett - with a pair of Freney XT boots. This is their report of how the boots performed in the Lake District Fells.

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In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

There seem to be loads of great boots of this class around currently! Having just written up a review of some not dissimilar Scarpa boots I see why the Helvellyn guys reckon this type of boot is usable for just about everything in the UK hills short of, perhaps, full on pitched winter climbing although my Sportiva Trango ice boots aren't actually that much heavier or beefier than this type of B2 boots.

In reply to TobyA:

Was just thinking the same thing. So many boots that look almost exactly like this, which is great as they really do almost anything. My Charmoz take me up hills in summer and gullies in winter.

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

I guess it means that if you go to a big enough shop, you'll find something that fits your foot shape no matter how weird shaped feet you have!

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:


...... for a £100 less.

In reply to galpinos:

True - they are quite pricey. But the Sportiva Trango Towers are getting there in price at 285 https://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/review.php?id=9600. I note you can Scarpa Triolets from Decathlon currently for 220 and the RRP for Scarpa Zodiac Tech GTX that I've just reviewed is 230 which seems a bargain.

It is interesting as to whether the boots are that different for the 100 quid price spread.

Back in March I did Striding and Swiral Edges in the last significant snow I think, using my 2001 vintage Sportiva Trango Ss - this was before Sportiva caved to the Brits and added a GTX lining. I haven't used those boots much in recent years, but it turns out in muddy Britain you really need a waterproof lining! The boots are pretty knackered anyway so I was mooching around Ambleside window shopping before driving home in the afternoon and the Climber's Shop had a great selection of B2 boots, I think they were doing Garmont as well. The chap there said they were trying some new brands to them because their prices were good and as far as they could see the boots were very similar to Trangos.