![]() One of the reasons I normally have dry feet may be that I always wear the boots with gaiters (One line review: Alpkit Colcas are excellent, and a total steal at £30). This works well and I am yet to experience wet feet wearing the boots, despite wearing them in some truly horrendous weather. Under their durable 3mm suede upper the Mont Blanc Pros feature a Gore-Tex Insulated Comfort Liner. Of course crampon-boot fitting is not an exact science so you should always try the boots in the shop with the crampons you intend to use with them. I have no doubt that more technical climbing crampons would fit the Mont Blanc Pros well too. All fit the boots well, with minimal fiddling. These crampons have a mix of step-in, and semi step-in bindings. I've worn the Mont Blanc Pros with a number of different mountaineering crampons: Petzl Vasaks, Grivel G12, CT Nuptse, and BD Sabretooth. Basically anything except verglas! In hard snow, without crampons the side of the boot works well as a saw, when kicking steps. I have found the sole to be grippy on snow, rock, grass and mud. I'm not that light on my feet, and have worn through soles fast on other boots I've used and reviewed over the years, so I'm taking this as a good sign. The sole is very sticky but after six weeks of wearing is still looking near new apart from some slight rounding at the edges. It has big, quite widely spaced lugs, and a flat section under the toe for maximum surface area when rock climbing. ![]() The new Mont Blanc Pro GTX features a modern looking Vibram Essential sole. I'm not saying you couldn't use the Mont Blancs for this sort of climbing, but in my view there are better tools for that job. For more technical, rocky, lower mountains, something lighter and more nimble would be more appropriate - especially if you might wear rock boots for a pitch or two, and end up carrying your boots in your sack. I would also use these boots for summer alpinism, but only for higher, snowier, 4000ers like Mont Blanc, Monte Rosa, or the Grand Paradiso. They are classed as B3s, meaning they are perfect for Scottish winter climbing and mountaineering, as well as continental cascade climbing. I think the weight is respectable for a sturdy and traditional leather boot. So these aren't the lightest boots on the market, by any stretch of the imagination! But they do compare favourably with broadly similar chunky models such as the Salewa Vutur Vertical (reviewed recently). Scarpa suggest these weigh 1800g per pair in size 42, while I make it exactly 2kg for my review pair of size 44s. In my view most UK based winter climbers and mountaineers won't go far wrong with a boot of this type, if they fit, of course. While boots of this design aren't super sexy like some of the zip up options on the market, they are durable, waterproof, warm, plus they climb well. They are a classic leather mountaineering boot with an insulated Gore-Tex liner, and a sticky Vibram sole.
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