worldburger wrote:ADK & Dane (and anyone else with suggestions):
What do you think between the Spankti & Baruntse & Scarpa 6000m for a mix of mountaineering and some mild ice climbing? At this point, my goals are Rainier-->Denali.
I have all three from Backcountry so I'll be walking around in them to get a feel & fit. And I've read this thread (many others) as well as Dane's blog.
Mind you I've never hiked in Crampons or anything beyond a hiking boot, so any help to understand what I should be thinking about while wearing these and using these boots in the environment they were intended for would help immensely and be greatly appreciated…
I've played with all three of those boots recently before setting off to do some winter climbing in Colorado this past February (horrible season - avy conditions were extreme across the entire state).
Either way, I played with those boots at the store, because in my neck of the woods, we don't have cool mountaineer shops on every corner (the midwest). I took two of my boots out with me (Sportiva's Nuptse and Nepal EVOs).
All three of the boots you listed, and my Nuptses (Sportiva retired those boots when they came out with the Baruntse) appear to be very similar in design and function. I think for summer access to Rainier, you'll overheat in all of them - the Nepal EVOs are the recommended boot for Rainier in the summer.
In my opinion, I think any of those boots will serve you well on Denali - what you need to do is decide what fits you best. You don't want them to fit like hiking boots. They should hold your foot and heel firmly, but not compress it (compression = bad circulation which = loss of toes). You should have ample room in the toe box to wiggle your toes up and down, but you don't want side to side slop.
Make sure whatever sock combo you're wanting to use, is what you're wearing those around the house with.
And what Dane means about one being more technical than the other: He's talking about their ability to be more precise. Ie: less bulky, less sloppy on the foot. The Spantik's single lace makes it very hard to get the boot to really hold onto the foot, so you get a less technical boot because of it.
TI