ice climbing boots

[man_vrs_mountain]

can anyone recomend a good reliable pair for a good price?

[mike_m]

IMHO, the question is a little more complex than that. There are many different ice boots out there, all reliable, each with a different last, so what fits climber x and works great for that person, leading to a recommendation, may trash the next person's (your) feet. For me, I've used and given up on Salomons, tried Scarpas, Montrails and Kaylands from the demo booths at Ouray, settled on La Sportiva's that fit me like my foot was the last. Nothing wrong with Salomons, Scarpas, Montails and Kaylands; they're all fine boots. They just don't fit me.

 

Best advice I can give, based on sometimes painful experience, is go to the shop(s), try on every brand you can, to find the boot that fits your feet the best. Make sure your foot stays in place on the downhill, kick the walls to see how your toes feel when front pointing, do heel raises on the edges of stairsteps or wall baseboards to see if your heel stays in place. Even better, wait and make it to one of the ice festivals and try out a variety of boots actually out on the ice. A good deal on boots that trash your feet might as well be money flushed.

[genepires]

Above is very good advice.

 

As far as reliable, by nepal tops have withstood alot of abuse. Not so with rock shoes from them but thier boots seem very durable.

 

Just a opinion,but I prefer leather over plastics for ice climbing. I can't keep my heel down in any plastic boot while ice climbing. Only leather boots have somekind of geometry that locks down my heels. I think that the laces don't wrap high enough on plastics. But my 2 cents.

[jmace]

Its too bad the search function on this site is so weird, if you have some time to search there has been a lot of discussion on this topic.