REVIEW: La Sportiva Trango Tower Extreme GTX

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
 UKC/UKH Gear 19 Apr 2019
Trango portrait With a lightweight upper and an excellent balance of support and nimble-footedness, the Trango Tower Extreme GTX are superb technical mountain boots, says Toby Archer. So it's a shame the soles seem to wear so quickly.

Read more
 goatee 19 Apr 2019
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

I am done with La Sportiva. Having owned many pairs over the years I have to agree with the article and bemoan the fast wearing soles AND rands. A few pairs of the otherwise excellent Trango Cubes wore out in very quick time. Both at the sole and the rand at the toe. A few extra grams and some durability are really needed.

In reply to goatee:

I think this might be the same with a few brands.

Quite a few years ago I remember speaking to a tent manufacturer about how crap their light wight peg's were, they agreed but told me that the first thing people look at is weight and that effects sales, so they put light pegs in, even though they know they aren't very good.

If brands sales are linked to weight they will go light even if it effects the product.

 Misha 19 Apr 2019
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

The soles on my Ice Cubes were destroyed after a few summer alpine routes. Lyon, the UK distributor, said I can’t complain as it’s meant to be an ice climbing boot. Perhaps fair enough going by the Ice Cube name but that’s a rubbish argument if they’ve got the same sole on the other Trango variations. It’s simply not worth buying boots with this sole unless you always wear them with crampons, including the walk in. I suppose it’s ok it the walk in is on soft snow. So basically fine for ice climbing and Alpine approaches on snow off the lift.

Scarpa had the same issue with the new Phantom Techs which came out a few years ago. I wore out the sole on mine after about 10 days of Scottish winter. To be fair to them, the distributor got the sole replaced with a tougher one at no cost and it seems to be holding out better. Not surprisingly, the latest model hitting the shops later this year has that tougher sole.

I weighed the Phantom Techs before and after that resole. They ended up being 120g heavier. As Toby says, a price worth paying for durability on what is already a lightweight boot. 

 Ramon Marin 22 Apr 2019
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

I bought a pair of these and I thought they were brilliant, specially in Scotland, the warm to weight ratio is fantastic. But I agree, they are roomier, more like a Scarpa fit, meaning that my usual boot size is too big for me, argh! 


New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
Loading Notifications...