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You'd think there'd be more options for a good, hard climbing mixed boot.
My boot arsenal at the moment consists of Nepals and a set of Baturas. My Nepals aren't good for it, the Baturas that I do have, I love to peices but I ordered half a size to small (when I ordered I wasn't able to try em on way back when) so they're tight and uncomfortable depending on the day, not a huge deal but still enough to make me look for a new boot for the harder mixed I've been doing lately to complement the other 2 boots.

I'd prefer a Gore-Tex lining,
Low profile
front and rear welt
light
Slightly warm (not necessarily as warm as the Baturas which are perfect for this weather I have but at least some insolation)

The Scarpa Freney xt gtx doesn't seem to look bad at all and is what I'm leaning towards,...
The phantom light has always interested me and is on sale everywhere due to the phantom guide coming out soon... (essentially another Batura, I know!)
Trango prime LOOKS good (no GoreTex lining), but havn't found too many happy people with it from reviews
Trango extreme evo light gtx looks alright as well.

Any suggestions? This would really be only for hard mixed, as I use the Baturas on the Ice and everything else.

Why not go bolt-on if they are really just for hard mixed?

You might want to give these a look. The liner is Event, but is comparable to goretex. Meets all, or most of your criteria. I'm a huge fan of Kayland boots:


http://us.kayland.com/details.php?id=31


http://www.backcountry.com/outdoorgear/ ... 0001M.html

Be aware that when Kayland shows a weight, it is for a single boot.

I would pick the Freney XT's. I have the Scarpa Summit GTX's and they are very comfortable. Its a taller boot than the Freneys and a bit heavier I think but the sole is basically the same. They walk great even though the sole is very stiff. They run true to size but get a 1/2 size bigger for more space for different sock options.

If you're really doing *hard* mixed, you might as well wear a fruitboot. Bolt on pons are definitely the way to go.

Suppose I should clarify, I would prefer to use the boots for the approaches as well, don't mind stiffness and unflexability, but would want to avoid bolt ons for that reason. Don't want to start lugging 2 pairs of boots around. As for the actual difficulty I'd say it borders on m6 - m7 on rotten rock (which is mostly what makes it harder), mostly shale, which is within my ability however I'm always unroped (out solo 99% of time with only my dog to keep me company) so I go slow and careful.

Well, if you're regularly soloing M6 and M7, your barking up the wrong tree. Toot your horn in the right places and you're on the road to all the free boots you want. Let's see the photos!

If you really want a dedicated hard mixed boot, you most definitely want a fruit boot.

Asolo Cholatse TH might be worth looking at too, I have a pair and I love them. Light, snug fit, integrated gaitors. They're somewhat similar to the Kayland M11+ posted above.

Rock and Ice review: http://www.rockandice.com/inthemag.php? ... ieldtested

http://www.google.com/products?num=100& ... CBcQrQQwAg

Thanks for the extra suggestions.

As for the difficulty Brandon, I'm just going by the rating descriptions:
M6: Vertical to overhanging with difficult dry tooling.
M7: Overhanging; powerful and technical dry tooling; less than 10m of hard climbing.

The walls certainly fit those descriptions, but then again, "difficult" is subjective and I have no one to repeat or to confirm with, I don't solo it by choice, there's just litterally no one who climbs here.

hehe, its not that I don't want the baturas, but I have them in 42.5 and I need them in 43, but they've been used... have one or 2 small crampon holes in the gaiter but even though they're fine, don't think sportiva would just "exchange" them for a different size.

I still use them for sure, but if instead of simply buying a new set of baturas in 43s, I figured I'd maybe try to find a boot that might be more suited to the majority of the climbing that I do...

but no sooner then I head out to climb a completely blank slab yesterday, I take about a 15 foot fall into a snow bank - rock came loose, landing was fine except for the front points of my left crampon had to be physically and painfully removed from my right leg... lost a lot of blood on that one... a little unnerved at the moment and I think I'll avoid that part of the wall for a week or so.

Trango extreme evo light gtx is what I have. I don't climb as hard as you but I've climbed a little m6 in them and love the flexibility of the ankle and the profile. I have to get a warmer boot for next year for really cold conditions but I already dread having to wear them instead of the "little grey boots".

I borrowed a pair of Lowa Mountain Expert GTX boots from a friend a while ago. They felt pretty comfortable, so I bought some last week and used them right away on a 9ish mile snow climb this weekend. The bottom of my right foot was a bit sore but overall, not bad at all for brand new boots.

Luciano136 wrote:I borrowed a pair of Lowa Mountain Expert GTX boots from a friend a while ago. They felt pretty comfortable, so I bought some last week and used them right away on a 9ish mile snow climb this weekend. The bottom of my right foot was a bit sore but overall, not bad at all for brand new boots.

There couldn't be a greater disparity between a 9 mile snow slog and soloing hard mixed lines.

brandon wrote:Well, if you're regularly soloing M6 and M7, your barking up the wrong tree. Toot your horn in the right places and you're on the road to all the free boots you want. Let's see the photos!

If you really want a dedicated hard mixed boot, you most definitely want a fruit boot.

Brandon,

Come'on. It seems like everyone and their dog leads M6 nowadays so I wouldn't call it hard. Now in my book real M7 is getting hard, and soloing is a different story.