Hey everyone,

I'm looking for boots that are suitable for both those climbs. I'm using La Sportiva Makalu's now but I'm concerned they won't be warm enough, they were fitted with medium weight socks so I can't just wear heavier socks. I'm not apposed to spending money I just want to make sure it's on the "end all boots". Thanks!

LS Makalu is a hiking/light mountaineering boot. Not warm enough for Aconcogua or Denali.

A solid old school double boot like the Scarpa Inverno or Koflach Arctis would be very durable and plenty warm for Aconcogua. Add an insulated supergaitor or over boot and you are good to go for Denali. Cheaper by half and more durable than any of the 6,000 meter boots on the market.

I figured boots with built in over boots would be too warm for much of Aconcagua plus they would get really beat up in the scree. I'm leaning toward the Koflacks for Aconcagua and adding an over boot for Denali. I'm in Phoenix and I've never seen them in a store here so how does sizing work?? Do I just buy them on the Internet and ship them back if they don't fit??

One other question, I read a lot of people swap out the liners for Intuition liners. Which Intuition liner works best for koflachs?

yes plastics would be adequate.

Koflachs now come with Intuition liners as standard. Retrofitting an old pair with Intuition Denali liners is the normal option.

ChristopherFranklin wrote:I figured boots with built in over boots would be too warm for much of Aconcagua plus they would get really beat up in the scree. I'm leaning toward the Koflacks for Aconcagua and adding an over boot for Denali. I'm in Phoenix and I've never seen them in a store here so how does sizing work?? Do I just buy them on the Internet and ship them back if they don't fit??

Zappos, if they have what you are looking for, offers free shipping and returns so you can buy a few different sizes and send back the ones that don't fit.

These G2 SM's are an option, if you add up cost of the Koflacks, Denali liners, and over boots they're only a little more expensive. Thoughts?

What size are you? I have an older pair of Koflach Artic that I used on Denali that I'm willing to let go for cheap. I'm size 10.5 US and 43.5 EUR. If you aren't looking for performance in terms of precision on technical rocks/ice in the future then the Koflach is good for both peaks in term of warmth. I used it on Denali without overboots.

edit: I also have the Mountain Hardware Absolute Zero overboots that I carried but never used which I'll also throw in.

I'm an 8.5, something else I just thought about, if I get koflachs and over boots do I need toe cap style crampons? Because I already have black diamond sabres that are clip in style.

I was planning on taking an intro to ice climbing class with RMI this winter at Ouray in Col. Would my LS Makalus work for that? Ugh I don't want 6 pairs of boots!

ChristopherFranklin wrote:I was planning on taking an intro to ice climbing class with RMI this winter at Ouray in Col. Would my LS Makalus work for that?

Ummm, no. Makalus are half shank boots and while they will work, you will suffer mightily.

ChristopherFranklin wrote: Ugh I don't want 6 pairs of boots!

Why 6 pairs? Whatever boot you end up getting for Denali/Aconslogua will work fine for ice climbing, be it old school plastic or a 6000 meter boot. While modern 'ice specific' boots have relatively floppy ankles to facilitate advanced footwork, my old Scarpa Invernos are hard to beat for a solid platform for ice climbing up to WI 5. Very little calf strain compared to modern, less supportive boots I've used (e.g. LS Trango Extreme). This last season saw repeats of hard (for Washington) WI 6 ice routes by guys in ski boots.

FWIW, if you get into climbing, you will end up with a ridiculous number of shoes and boots. I just got rid of four pairs of rock shoes, a pair of approach shoes and two pairs of mountaineering boots and I still own four pairs of mountaineering boots, two pairs of approach shoes, two pairs of rock shoes, two pairs of randonee/BC/ski mountaineering boots, a couple pairs of trail running shoes, and a pair of road running shoes.

Puma concolor wrote:

ChristopherFranklin wrote: if I get koflachs and over boots do I need toe cap style crampons? Because I already have black diamond sabres that are clip in style.

Yes. I couldn't get the front bar on BD Sabretooths to fit snug with the overboots on the Koflachs.

I would get a pair of something like Grivel G-10 with universal binders for Denali. They will fit anything, including approach shoes, ski boots, and boots with overboots. Don't get me started on how many pairs of crampons I own.

Another idea is to go with insulated super gaiters. On Denali it was a particularly cold year (-30 F in mid June) and I wore Scarpa Invernos with Intuition liners and La Sportiva insulated super gaiters. My feet were warm enough that I likely could have gone with stock liners and insulated gaiters.