UKC

I'm off to Denali next May hoping to get on the Cassin Ridge. Last time I went out I wore Sportiva Spantiks, but they are beginning to show their age and the inners are coated in foam packing to eliminate dead space around the ankles.
Are there now any good alternatives for light, technical boots capable of keeping me warm on summit day, ideally much narrower and lower volume?

In reply to John Alcock:

Sportiva G2 SM is apparently warmer. I tried them on in a shop and thought they were good but I have no experience of super cold conditions.

In reply to John Alcock:

That's a pretty specialist end of the market - I guess there are only a few alternatives from the likes of Scarpa, Boreal, Zamberland etc. tracking them down to try on will likely be hard if you're not somewhere like Chamonix.

FWIW I have the Sportiva Baruntse - not sure if they are very different in shape/volume to the Spantiks but being a classic lace up they don't have the problem with lacing system breaking that seemed to happen on some Spantiks. You do need to add a gaiter of some sort though. I've never really tested mine that much because as it turned out I moved back to the UK just a year or so after getting them (I bought them for Arctic ice climbing, but only ended up trying them on cold days in Southern Finland - where they were nice and warm.

I've heard good things about the double Scarpa model (6000?), but don't know about their fit.

In reply to TobyA:

I think the Scarpa 6000 would probably be a better fit (I have a pair of Phantoms which I adore for ice-climbing) but have heard they aren't as warm as Spantiks, which is important as the top of Denali is pretty close to the warmth limit for Spantiks (people on the West Buttress usually use warmer, less technical boots or overboots for summit day).

As to the laces breaking on Spantiks, I've not had that problem, but others have fitted their own thicker laces.

In reply to John Alcock:

The Sportiva G2 SM looks interesting and might be warmer and lighter than the Spantik?