UKC

Oh Scarpa..... 
I’m a big fan of Scarpa, my usual shoes of choice are Instinct lace, Mego and/or Boostic. 

I see Scarpa are tinkering with a new iteration of the Mego, plus changes to Chimera, and the new Boostic is on sale now. 

So, IMO, and I understand Rob had to be tactful with his review to some extent, but for me I think its changed enough to be unrelated to the original Boostic. Its softer, not as stiff in the sole and bends under pressure way too easily! The focus has changed and the point of the shoe now sits under the second toe, not under the big toe. The heel now comes higher up the achilles though is a little narrower. They suggest buying it tight to ‘make’ it perform, whereas Scarpa in the past have always been performance in relative comfort and one reason why I have used them since 94.

I’m very disappointed with this. The Boostic is, or rather was a classic edging shoe. I’ve no idea what I will use the new version for or where it fits into the Scarpa line up. 

Mego are my go to hard shoe and I hope and prey they don’t ruin this too!!

Scarpa have a habit of changing a winning formula - see Dominator, Booster - though some rave about the new one, and Roquet just disappeared! Vapour V in original form was great, now its pretty crap (again, imo)! 

Stop making changes for the sake of changes or for justifying salaries. The odd tweek, yes of course, Boostic with lighter materials would work fine for instance.

Please stop ruining good shoes!

In reply to mike reed:

I imagine they are wanting to appeal to the 95% of climbers who spend a majority of their time jumping around on plastic blobs vs 5% who spend most of their time on rock. All the recent incarnations of their classic shoes have been sliding towards indoor bouldering performance. 

You can't blame them if that is where the market is but with the sheer number of shoe models they have out, it would be nice if some of them were left alone for the rock-enthusiasts. The Vapour is a very sore point for me. 

In reply to mike reed:

I'm genuinely not sure what shoe I'll be using once my current (old style) Boostic wears out, which is a prospect that greatly saddens me - not least because of how much I've enjoyed wearing them and how well they've performed. 

My gut feeling, at least for the moment, is that I'll get the resoled until a suitable successor can be found...

In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

I'm in the same boat. Once my old Vapour Vs can't be resoled anymore, I'm at an absolute loss as to what shoe. Considering Sportiva Katana but I have quite a wide, flat mid-foot and most sportivas I've tried make my feet ache after a while. I don't think I get on with Miura VS. What shoes fit a flat, wide egyptian foot?! 

In reply to PaulJepson:

Unparrellel Up Rise Pro?

In reply to joe.91:

Don't they fit like 5:10s? I found 5:10s really narrow. 

In reply to PaulJepson:
Paul, maybe give the Katana lace up a try? Stiff and wide  
Also one of the Instinct versions may well be worth trying for that old Vapour like feel if you want to stay with Scarpa quality.

In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

Yep. I’ve resoled all 4 of my pairs, each with different rubber grades. XS Grip works really well on them (and on the Instinct lace for the record), but I’m light so Grip 2 would be my choice for the heavier climber.

I've resoled my oldest pair 5 times (well, once by Pep at Goma2 in 2015) and I was climbing in them today!!! I had the new and the old and tried them in turn on various boulder problems and solo’s. I stayed with the old ones for the last half hour. Just better!

In reply to all:

One word: Otaki

You're welcome. 

In reply to mike reed:

Hi Mike,

Are you still doing resoles? 

Chris

In reply to Christheclimber:

In the process of selling the business.
I’m hoping eventually to be in a position to do my own and friends with portable or much lighter tools, but for now, no. 

In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

Rob, you get loads of shoes to try out, don't worry about what to wear

Mike,

I agree Scarpa need to stop improving their shoes by making them worse, or removing them from sale without a suitable replacement e.g. the Stix slipper, the greatest shoe ever made IMHO 

However, I disagree about the new Boostic. I've not found a stiff shoe I liked since the Spectro over a decade ago, but the new Boostic is the mutts nuts. Yes, it could be even stiffer but that would lose some of the sensitivity, which for a stiff shoe is amazing. Personally I find the Instinct range too second toe focused, numb under the foot and clumpy. The Boostics are very big toe focused, precise, accurate and surprisingly comfortable. Admittedly I never had the original Boostics, but the new ones are, for me, the perfect shoe for UK limestone.

Andy F