The gear section has an entry for the 5.10 exum guide, but no reviews:
http://www.spgear.org/gear/5261/exum-guide.html

Anybody know what the "unsealed waterproof leather" actually is? Another part of the entry calls it "water resistant" leather.

What makes these boots more suitable for strap-on crampons, than say, the camp fours? Higher cut, waterproof? The soles look very similar to the camp four soles.

I've envisioned climbing a modest couloir in approach shoes covered with light neoprene overboots (and crampons), then taking off the overboots when I hit the rock above (e.g. L-couloir to Sill).

MoapaPk wrote:What makes these boots more suitable for strap-on crampons, than say, the camp fours? Higher cut, waterproof? The soles look very similar to the camp four soles.

I've envisioned climbing a modest couloir in approach shoes covered with light neoprene overboots (and crampons), then taking off the overboots when I hit the rock above (e.g. L-couloir to Sill).

I've had Camp Four for a while and they work great for me. They are not waterproof at all (no goretex liner) but I put watreproofing on the leather parts myself and they do not soak water that much anymore. This Exum Guide looks exactly like my Camp Fours except they look slightly higher. My guess is that strap-on crampons will work about the same on these two modles: probably OK for an occasional snow field, badly for anything more serious.

I'm also curiuos - where would you get these light neoprene overboots? I only know about Forty Below neoprene overboots but these are for plastic boots and not quite lightweight.

bdynkin wrote:
I'm also curiuos - where would you get these light neoprene overboots? I only know about Forty Below neoprene overboots but these are for plastic boots and not quite lightweight.

Forty Below also makes (or made) overboots for lighter, low-volume shoes. They fit snugly over my camp fours.

http://www.40below.com/product_detail_p ... uctID=4400

I used the predecessor to Montrails Sabino Mid-GTX, http://www.montrail.com/Product.aspx?top=1&cat=120&prod=161 last year for a climb of the Swiss Arête. They were fine with crampons, and I was able to climb the 5.easy pitches in them too. The Gryptonite rubber is nowhere as good as the stealth rubber. I have one of the lower cut version’s of that shoe (5.10 insight) and I love the shoe. I’d trade up to the Exum Guide in a minute if I found a good deal.

I purchased a pair of these at the end of the fall season last year and used them twice, I think they are great for an approach shoe, but I would take my mountaineering boots with me if I where planning on wearing crampons. the soles are probably stiff enough for crampons but I never liked the idea of strap on crampons. I'm not sure to how waterproof they are but they seem like they should hold up well for a few seasons of abuse.

MoapaPk wrote:

bdynkin wrote:
I'm also curiuos - where would you get these light neoprene overboots? I only know about Forty Below neoprene overboots but these are for plastic boots and not quite lightweight.

Forty Below also makes (or made) overboots for lighter, low-volume shoes. They fit snugly over my camp fours.

http://www.40below.com/product_detail_p ... uctID=4400

Good info - thank you!

bdynkin wrote:

MoapaPk wrote:
Forty Below also makes (or made) overboots for lighter, low-volume shoes. They fit snugly over my camp fours.

http://www.40below.com/product_detail_p ... uctID=4400

Good info - thank you!

Often in the transition time (May around here, up through August in the Sierra), I need to cross snow, then am on rock where I would really like friction.

So far I've just experimented with the camp fours, overboots, and CAMP Al crampons. I've walked quite a bit on the turf in my backyard (a very small strip here in Vegas, where water use is taken seriously) with the setup. The crampons seem to stay well with the boots, no slipping.

I've had crampons pop off boots that bent too much in the sole, and that was a bad, bad thing.

I just noticed these are in sizes up to 15 (and apparently are meant for crampons). Being someone with size 15 feet, these seem kind of tempting. I wonder how warm these are.

I gotta ask - why use approach shoes with overboots when you could use something like the LS Trango S Evo? The Trangos weigh 7 oz more than the 5.10s but the overboots weigh 15 oz., and the Trangos are waterproof and will work with hybrid crampons whereas I'm guessing you'll need strap-ons for the approach shoe + overboot combination. Trangos may not be quite as sticky as approach shoes but they do climb well...

JHH60 wrote:I gotta ask - why use approach shoes with overboots when you could use something like the LS Trango S Evo? The Trangos weigh 7 oz more than the 5.10s but the overboots weigh 15 oz., and the Trangos are waterproof and will work with hybrid crampons whereas I'm guessing you'll need strap-ons for the approach shoe + overboot combination. Trangos may not be quite as sticky as approach shoes but they do climb well...

I think the Trango weight is per boot; the weight per pair is much higher. Then there is the $300 price tag...

The idea would be to leave the overboots and crampons at the beginning of the rock, and pick them up later on.

I would truly love, love to have a stiff-soled pair of boots, with some insulation and sticky soles, that weighed around 3 lbs. There doesn't seem to be much compromise.

MoapaPk wrote:

JHH60 wrote:I gotta ask - why use approach shoes with overboots when you could use something like the LS Trango S Evo? The Trangos weigh 7 oz more than the 5.10s but the overboots weigh 15 oz., and the Trangos are waterproof and will work with hybrid crampons whereas I'm guessing you'll need strap-ons for the approach shoe + overboot combination. Trangos may not be quite as sticky as approach shoes but they do climb well...

I think the Trango weight is per boot; the weight per pair is much higher. Then there is the $300 price tag...

The idea would be to leave the overboots and crampons at the beginning of the rock, and pick them up later on.

I would truly love, love to have a stiff-soled pair of boots, with some insulation and sticky soles, that weighed around 3 lbs. There doesn't seem to be much compromise.

The Boreal Big Wall boots might be stiffer and supposedly work on long approaches and hike and climb backcountry stuff, I haven't tried them, though.. about 2lbs, $185.- at Mountain Tools.

MoapaPk wrote:

JHH60 wrote:I gotta ask - why use approach shoes with overboots when you could use something like the LS Trango S Evo? The Trangos weigh 7 oz more than the 5.10s but the overboots weigh 15 oz., and the Trangos are waterproof and will work with hybrid crampons whereas I'm guessing you'll need strap-ons for the approach shoe + overboot combination. Trangos may not be quite as sticky as approach shoes but they do climb well...

I think the Trango weight is per boot; the weight per pair is much higher. Then there is the $300 price tag...

The idea would be to leave the overboots and crampons at the beginning of the rock, and pick them up later on.

I would truly love, love to have a stiff-soled pair of boots, with some insulation and sticky soles, that weighed around 3 lbs. There doesn't seem to be much compromise.

I just slapped my LS Trango S Evos on a scale. 760 gm each for size 43.5 (not including my superfeet green inserts, which added approx 40 gm each). X2 is not too far from 3lb.

Stiff soled mountain boots with some insulation for ~4 pounds is fairly common -- Lowa mountain expert, various boots by asolo, etc. I've climbed fourth class / easy fifth in my mtn experts.

I've climbed several Sierra couloirs in backpacking boots with strap-on crampons in spring / early summer. Obviously extended frontpointing with flexible footwear is kind of a bad idea, but for the most part good french technique will take you a long way. In the shoulder season you are talking about, chemical toe warmers work fine for me.

On the subject of 5-10 exum guides -- I'd hoped these might work for me, but they just didn't fit. Not that I actually need more approach shoes

I wonder if another one possibly worth checking out is the garmont vetta lite or vetta plus. I remember some discussion about the asolo vortex last year .. grabbed a pair off Sierra Trading Post last summer, but otherwise not sure if they are still available.

Some people have also been known to wear boots for the snowy / couloir / class 3-4 approach, and then switch to rock shoes for the climbing

Thanks for all the good ideas. Now I hope all the names stay present in my head when I search for sales!

rhyang wrote:Some people have also been known to wear boots for the snowy / couloir / class 3-4 approach, and then switch to rock shoes for the climbing

What Rob said. If you're planning on ditching the overboots and crampons at the base of the rock anyway you might as well use appropriate stiff, crampon compatible, insulated boots and then ditch those at the base of the climb and switch to actual rock shoes.