La Sportiva N.A. Men's Trango S Evo GTX Mountaineering Boot

francesco - 11/18/2005

not any equal
support, lightness, waterproof, multipurpose. the best.

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Jan - 08/14/2006

Flimsy, painful, poor customer support; but great traction
I bought these boots for a mountain climbing trip (Rainier). After 3 months of "breaking in," I'm still getting blisters on my heels. Now one lace eyelet has ripped out. I called Sportiva and of course they offered to repair it under warranty. What happens if another eyelet blows out on the mountain or in the middle of a multi-day trip? Well, they'll waranty that too. A lot of good that will do me on a glacier on Rainier. I don't really want these boots anymore (3 months of break-in and still painful), so I asked if I could return them even for a partial credit towards a different model (I'd take the Storm, which cost half as much, and I need light day hikers anyway). They won't do that. On the upside, they are very lightweight, completely waterproof, newmatic crampon compatible, and the virbam rubber on the soles provides excellent traction - even with a heavy pack, I never had to worry about losing traction climbing rocks and boulders. In summary, although this boot has some good features, it's painful, not sturdy enough, and for the $$ Sportiva charges they should be more responsive to dissatisfied customers.

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Jeffrey Porter - 03/19/2006

WOW!!!
That would be an understatement - Out of the box, comfortable, back to back hikes, comfortable, in crampons, still comfortable. I haven't been on the snow for prolonged periods of inactivity, so I can't speak to the overall warmth of the boot, but while moving, temperature was always comfortable, no noticible dampness, even after 6 plus hours of walking... Oh and they're lighter than my summer day hikers... Outstanding boot...

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Todd Arthur Bridges - 03/04/2006

Perfect Feel
I am still breaking the boots in, however, they fit great (size 44 = 10). My first reaction was that they are extremely light, offer tons of support, and are bomb proof. What a combo! I have no complaints thus far.

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raddaddy - 01/30/2006

comfy right out of the box
Virtually no break in was required with these super lightweight boots. The combination of sturdy sole with supple upper ankle area make it a good choice for heavy backpacking and mountaineering. My only complaint is that in relatively mild winter conditions (25-40 F and wet snow), my feet got cold when we set up camp and spent some idle time on the snow. I'll have to experiment with warmer socks I guess. I was using thin liner with smartwool heavy hiker socks.

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