One of the first shoes that we reviewed as a newly minted online magazine was the Scarpa Booster S. We felt such a privilege to be asked to review a shoe of its caliber and it was this model that made us fall in love with Scarpa line up, concluding that the future of climbing shoes was in good hands.
With increased sensitivity in the mid-foot and a re-designed heel that holds up to the technical nature of granite bouldering , the New Scarpa Booster offers a lot of great stuff under the hood. However, the question on our minds was simply this: Does it hold up to the overall power of the original?
Here is what we had to say.
Disclaimer
Before getting into this review, we have a confession to make. After reviewing out first pair of Scarpa Booster S rock shoes, we have likely gone through 10-12 pairs. Even as I write this article, I have three new pairs of the Scarpa Booster S waiting in storage. In our opinion, the Scarpa Booster S is the best all around shoe for sport climbing ever created. It is a shoe similar to that of the Anasazi Velcro in the early 2000’s that holds a warm spot in my heart so much so that we don’t even throw out our old ones. We just put them in a garbage bag in our storage room and wait for the time when we may need to pick them up again. With this being said, the new Scarpa Booster had a high bar to match.
Scarpa Booster Climbing Shoe
After more than eight weeks of review and purposeful effort to climb on a variety of terrains, we have concluded that the new Scarpa Booster is a welcomed addition to the Scarpa line up.
Light weight and nimble on the feet, the Scarpa Booster S is a sensitive shoe that is fun to wear. It’s heel has enough sensitivity to pull out in technical situations and it’s toe box holds more power than the Furia, making it a great shoe for overhanging rock.
That being said, the New Scarpa Booster may bear the same name as it’s predecessor, but in our opinion, it is a completely different shoe, fitting in between the Furia and the now old Booster S. No matter how you slice it, the new Booster does not have the ‘all-arounder’ capabilities of the old Booster S and although we are dazzled by its strengths, we also mourn its flaws, as Scarpa discontinues what was one of the best shoes on the planet.
Toe Box
The look and feel of the toe box on the Scarpa Booster is almost identical to the Booster S. It puts your toes in the perfect position for power on small footholds while climbing overhanging terrain. However, because of changes to the back end of the shoe, we found that it did not retain the power of the Booster S and this was very apparent when trying to climb vertical terrain.
While testing the shoe on limestone, it had no problem navigating the tiniest of footholds but when climbing on granite, it just didn’t hold up. When digesting this feedback, it is important to note that we still believe that the Scarpa Booster S is and was one of the best all around shoes ever made and it is in our toolbox for that very purpose.
Heel
The heel on the new Scarpa Booster is very sensitive and does very well on technical terrain. It would almost be perfect but we found that the sides of the heel were so sensitive and thin that it did not hold up over time. After breaking in the shoe, we found that the heel had major air pockets on the inside of the heel that didn’t make the shoe feel solid.
However, it should be noted that despite this feeling, we found that the outside portion of the heel continued to perform at a very high level and when going back to the Booster S, we found that we preferred the softer heel when trying to send on technical granite boulders. We would give the heel a 4.5 of 5, only losing half a point because of the air pocket on the inside.
Comfort
In terms of all day comfort, this shoe is a dream and it is fun to wear. Compared to even some of our favourite shoes, this one felt like a Ferrari the way it moved across the rock. During the testing of this shoe, we were able to keep our shoes on through long stretches of bouldering and easily handle long routing adventures.
It should be noted that the break in period for this shoe is quick and the shoe may even stretch too much if using your regular Scarpa size. When receiving this shoe, we almost thought that we had picked the wrong size because it was a little tighter that usual. After the first session sport climbing, the shoe broke in nicely but after a few more sessions, we found that this shoe was almost too stretched out for the size we chose.
Given the soft nature of this shoe overall, the sizing difference almost eliminated the downturned nature of the shoe and it became more comparable to the Furia in terms of sensitivity and feel. When sizing this shoe (we usually take a 44 across all Scarpa products), we would highly recommend going with a half size down to reduce the shoe from bagging out in the long term.
Overall
Overall, the New Scarpa Booster is a great addition to the Scarpa line up. With its comfort and sensitive nature, it fits right in between the Scarpa Furia and the Scarpa Booster S. However, to consider this shoe the evolution of the Booster S line is a mistake. Although the shoe improves on the heel of its predecessor (pun intended) and retains the same feel in the toe box, the mid portion of the shoe and the sides of the heel seemed to have reduced the overall power of the toe box resulting in a lack of all around usability.
The Scarpa Booster S was the king of all shoes when it came to navigating every type of terrain, from slab to overhanging rock, and in our opinion, the New Scarpa Booster can’t seem to get the job done as a replacement tool for a tool that never needed replacing.
MSRP: $209.95 CAD. The Scarpa Booster can be purchased at Climb On Equipment
