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Climbing, Adventure, Gear & Choss
Scarpa Vapor Review
There’s nothing quite like the excitement of opening a box of new climbing shoes. You take them out with a child-like sense of awe and wonder, marveling at how clean and fresh they are, the endless possibilities of what you can accomplish stretching to the horizon. And while no piece of equipment can substitute for technique and strength, it does help to have the right tool for the job. You don’t climb splitter cracks in tight slippers, and comfy trad shoes are fairly useless on overhanging sport routes.
To that end, the Scarpa Vapor may be the answer to the thin crimping routes that haunt your nightmares. This is the shoe that will give you the confidence to stand on the smallest edges imaginable, while reaching up to that next tiny razor. If only your skin was as tough as these shoes…
I’ve been using the Vapors for the last couple of months, on everything from local limestone to the sandstone of Red Rocks. As with all of Scarpa’s recent offerings that I’ve sampled, I am truly impressed. This is a company that has fully come into its own, creating some of the best shoes available today, and the Vapor is no exception.
With a similar fit to the Muira, these shoes felt right at home on my feet. The suede uppers stretch enough to allow the shoe to conform to your foot, without getting big enough to be sloppy. After they had broken in, the fit was perfect, with no dead spaces anywhere. The kind of shoe you slip on and think it was made just for you.
The downturn puts your toes into the best position to get power from your feet without being painful, and the slingshot power system locks your heel in place. I’ve been a fan of XS Edge rubber for a while now, and my experience with these has been positive as well, offering the ideal blend of stickiness and durability. The Vapors are designed for standing on small holds, so they are fairly stiff, providing your feet with excellent support on the smallest of edges. And if all that weren’t enough, they are bright orange, which helps me feel like a super hero while climbing in them. One last thing, I can’t speak to this personally, but I have several friends who size them larger and use them for trad/crack climbing, and they say they also work well in this capacity.
In my experience, there was only one negative about this shoe, as at first they were painful on the tendons around my ankle bone, but this went away once they broke in. Also, I’ve been drifting towards softer shoes in the last year or so, ones that let me feel holds better with my toes, and as such, this shoe felt a little stiff when there was delicate footwork involved.
The slipper version is said to be a bit softer, and I would probably lean that way if you like some sensitivity in your shoes. However, if you love crimps like the Cookie Monster loves cookies, then the Vapors could be just the shoes you’ve been looking for. They’ve definitely earned a spot in my shoe quiver for whenever any serious edging is involved. Retail is $139 and you can get more info and/or purchase a pair on the Scarpa website.
Disclaimer: The FTC wants you to know this product was provided to SplitterChoss.com for the purpose of reviewing. Like that makes a difference on how much we beat the crap out of it …
11 Responses to Scarpa Vapor Review
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So how would you compare these to the Katana Laces?
The Katana Laces are a softer shoe that, in my opinion, don’t edge as well as the Vapors. They both fit my foot well.
The Vapor has a nice sized toebox but unfortunately, the back of the shoe digs into my heel.
I tried these on and liked the forefoot, but the top of the back of the shoe really bit into my achilles. Tried the next size up and the toe box was too big. Crushed, as I need a replacement for my Scarpa spectros which got discontinued right after I found them.
If you are seriously considering this shoe and like everything else about it, at first it dug into my heel/achilles as well, but once it broke in it was fine.
Good to know… I wondered if they would stretch/break in/form to the foot but I just had this indent on my achilles for like 10 minutes, just seemed too tight. The forefoot was perfect, might have to give them a try.
How does the sizing compare to the Mirua VS or Katanas?
Coop – The rubber is the same as the Katana’s, XS Edge. As far as sizing, Scarpa seems to run truer to street shoe size. My Katana Laces are 43’s, and the Vapor’s I have are 44’s. I wear a 42.5 Muira VS. Hope that helps!
Also, how about the rubber/stickiness as compared to La Sportiva’s? Thanks
I bought a pair a month or so ago. Prior shoes were slippers (I’d climbed in slippers for years.) I was amazed by how much weight came off my fingers and how I almost never needed to reset a foot placement. That said, the rubber seems to be quite soft and since I use the toe tip more often than inside or outside edges, it seems to be wearing out rather quickly. So, here’s the question: Has anyone here resoled a pair yet? If so, has anyone tried a harder rubber?
I’m pretty sure that’s the hardest rubber Vibram makes, maybe Five Ten has something more durable? Perhaps you’re just too much of a footwork ninja!