There's a pretty good chance I'm heading to Aconcagua in January. I also have vague notions of climbing Denali sometime in the next year or two.

I scored a great deal on a pair of Nuptses. I've taken them up some WI3 and WI4 routes, they're probably a 1/2 size too large for technical ice (i get a tiny bit of heel lift) but I figure for high altitude slogging, it will protect my toes a little better and also allow for swelling.

What are your thoughts on the Nuptse vs the 6000? I got the Nuptses so cheap I can sell them off no problem and the Phantom 6000 is on nice clearance all around the interwebs. Are both appropriate for both mountains?

In terms of saving weight - has anyone resoled the Nuptse or swapped out the liner? Any leads on that?

Essentially, I'm looking for any good info on boots so drop some knowledge on me.

Thanks!

brokesomeribs wrote:There's a pretty good chance I'm heading to Aconcagua in January. I also have vague notions of climbing Denali sometime in the next year or two.

I scored a great deal on a pair of Nuptses. I've taken them up some WI3 and WI4 routes, they're probably a 1/2 size too large for technical ice (i get a tiny bit of heel lift) but I figure for high altitude slogging, it will protect my toes a little better and also allow for swelling.

What are your thoughts on the Nuptse vs the 6000? I got the Nuptses so cheap I can sell them off no problem and the Phantom 6000 is on nice clearance all around the interwebs. Are both appropriate for both mountains?

In terms of saving weight - has anyone resoled the Nuptse or swapped out the liner? Any leads on that?

Essentially, I'm looking for any good info on boots so drop some knowledge on me.

Thanks!

Can't comment on the Phantoms but the Nuptse's are great. I used them on Aconcagua, and on a good day they'd be warm enough for Denali w/out an overboot (but you should still probably have an overboot for Denali). A comfy boot that beats a plastic boot any day. If by swapping out the liner you mean using something like an intuition, that may be tough. The liners in the Nuptse's are pretty thin, the intuitions are much thicker so wouldn't be a good swap.

I liked my Nuptses on Aconcagua as well. I was the only one in my group who didn't have cold feet.

Woodie

swapping to intuitions might help your fit problem...

jrc wrote:swapping to intuitions might help your fit problem...

1/2 size too large for expedition use isn't a problem IMO. Its not uncommon to have some heel lift with properly fitted boots for expedtiion use, and I'd guess that the Nuptse's should be around 1.5 sizes too large for an Intuition to fit correctly, the Intuitions have got to be 3x the thickness of the stock Nuptse liners, trust me, I've got sizes 9+10 of the Denali Intuition liners for sale to prove it, $80 shipped (I tried to use them to fix a pressure point in another LS boot that uses a thin liner. The Intuitions did fix the pressure point but were too thick and my toes were getting angry, even though I used a large toe cap during molding.)

Brokesomeribs, the liners in the Nuptse's are so thin that you're not going to save much weight there, if any, anyway.

Good info everyone, thanks. Interesting to know that Intuitions are so much thicker than the stock liners. Are they proportionally warmer as well? I suppose that when people talk about them being a good way to save weight, I think they're referring to ski boots...

brokesomeribs wrote:Good info everyone, thanks. Interesting to know that Intuitions are so much thicker than the stock liners. Are they proportionally warmer as well? I suppose that when people talk about them being a good way to save weight, I think they're referring to ski boots...

Not sure if they're proportionally warmer, but supposedly they're the warmest liner out there, warmth/weight wise anyway.

Most double mountaineering boots have a thicker liner and would easily fit an Intuition, like the popular Kolfach Arctis plastic boot, really just a plastic shell and a liner. The Nuptse's have more insulating properties in the outer boot than a plastic boot, and would just be one of several exceptions.

The Nuptse's are money though, I really felt like I was wearing a big hiking boot as compared to the old-school plastic boots I used to have.